Monday, 20 November 2000

MEDIA RELEASE - HEAD OFFICE - 2001 Australian Weather Calendar

Calendar tribute for Kingaroy grazier

Queensland farmer Evelyn Gooderham has been recording rainfall for the Weather Bureau each and every day for 51 years. In recognition of her commitment, Evelyn is featured in the 2001 Australian Weather Calender. The calendar is dedicated to the Bureau's network of 6200 volunteer rainfall observers and includes an observer from each Australian state. Queensland has a network of 2089 rainfall stations, of which 1717 are operated by volunteers.

Evelyn was taught to read the rain gauge by her father, who took up rainfall recording in 1908 on the family's Central Highlands property "Lynway" near Wandoan, about 400 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. But it wasn't until 1945, after she was married and had moved to the Gooderham family farm "Quendon" (between Dalby and Kingaroy), that Evelyn decided she "might like to give it a try".

The sprightly elderly citizen says she first took up rainfall recording for the Bureau in 1949 and that the task became part of her daily routine for the next 50 years. It became so much a part of Evelyn's life at "Quendon" - within sight of the Bunya Mountains National Park - that she was shocked when told she had been checking the rain gauge for half a century.

"When the Weather Bureau told me last year that I'd been doing it for 50 years, I hadn't realised it had been so long! I never thought about it. It was just something I'd been doing that I was interested in. I got a real surprise!" The milestone earned Evelyn a rainfall excellence award, which the Bureau presents to individuals who have served uninterrupted for 50 years and to families which have served for 100 years.

One can develop a healthy obsession with the weather, having to record rainfall every day for five decades. "I'm very interested in the weather," says Evelyn, who you suspect knows enough to give Bureau forecasters a run for their money. A case in point earlier this year: "We were supposed to get good rain from the west," she says. "I said, 'We're not going to get it,' and they said, 'Why?' I said because there was a disturbance off the coast and we had very cool, gale-force, south-easterly winds. There was no way we were going to get rain with that. I said nothing could come in with that blowing like that ... and I was right."

Evelyn has a number of tried-and-true storm warning signs. "When the storms are around, my cactus always starts to bud," she says. "No laughing matter. We used to look at the ants years ago, and they were a good sign of rainfall. But I think their radars aren't any good any more!" She laughs. "Years ago, if it was going to rain, you'd see the ants building. And if we saw ants taking their eggs up a post we knew we were going to get floods. They were never wrong."

While the Bureau's weather prediction methods have evolved to incorporate supercomputers these days, the standard rain gauge used by volunteers maintains a sense of history - it is still the same basic measuring cylinder housed in an outer casing with a collecting funnel. Evelyn was presented with a shiny new rain gauge by the Bureau as part of her rainfall excellence award. The major change for observers in recent history has been the move from Imperial to metric units. It still causes Evelyn more than a little consternation. "The rainfall part was all right," she says, "but when they tell you what the river heights are, it's no good to me, because I can't understand it. Now it's point so-and-so."

The 2001 Australian Weather Calendar is available from the Bureau of Meteorology. It costs $13 over the counter and $17 posted within Australia. Special prices apply for overseas delivery.

Ends

Further information:
The 2001 Australian Weather Calendar website: www.bom.gov.au/announcements/calendar/
Mark Jenkin, Public Affairs Unit, tel: (03) 9669 4552, e-mail: pro@bom.gov.au
Main media release on volunteer rainfall observers featured in the 2001 Australian Weather Calendar.

Calendar sales (Queensland):
Postal orders: Weather Calendar, Public Affairs Unit, Bureau of Meteorology, GPO Box 1289K, MELBOURNE VIC 3001
Fax orders: (03) 9669 4113
Telephone orders: (07) 3239 8662 / 8663 / 8665
Over-the-counter sales:
Brisbane: Ground floor, 295 Ann Street, tel: (07) 3239 8662 / 8663 / 8665
Cairns: Met Office, Cairns Airport, tel: (07) 4035 9777
Charleville: Met Office, Charleville Airport, tel: (07) 4654 1033
Longreach: Met Office, Longreach Airport, tel: (07) 4658 1783
North Mackay: Met Office, Mt Bassett, North Mackay, tel: (07) 4955 1355
Mt Isa: Met Office, Mt Isa Airport, tel: (07) 4743 3382
Rockhampton: Met Office, Canoona Road, Rockhampton Airport, tel: (07) 4922 3597
Weipa: Met Office, Weipa Airport, tel: (07) 4069 7059