A Brief History of the Bureau of Meteorology

Meteorological observations commenced in Australia with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. With the spread of European exploration and settlement, the number of observations available across the continent grew, largely through the efforts of individuals with scientific interests or training. By the end of the nineteenth century, the importance of meteorology was firmly recognised and most Australian States had established separate Meteorological Services that collectively had access to observations from an area exceeding the size of Europe, prepared daily weather charts, issued forecasts and had begun the development of a climatological data bank. 

Following Federation, the Commonwealth Government assumed national responsibility for meteorological services and, except during World War II, since 1 January 1908 the Bureau of Meteorology has functioned as a largely self-contained agency of the Federal Government.

Between 1908 and 1935 the Bureau grew slowly. A small, centralised forecasting operation was maintained in Melbourne, with State Divisional Offices in State capital cities concerned primarily with climate studies and forecast dissemination. The development of civil aviation from 1936 and the 1937 introduction of aviation weather services saw the beginning of a period of rapid expansion, sustained by the Bureau's incorporation, as the RAAF Meteorological Service, in the Department of Air during World War II and the explosive development of civil aviation in the post-war years. The needs of aviation and the growing requirements of State Government agencies led to the introduction of decentralised forecasting services through the State Divisional Offices (later retitled Regional Offices) in the late 1940s, but national economic difficulties in the early 1950s led to a decline in the resources available to the Bureau.

Introduction of the current Meteorology Act in 1955 precipitated a period of sustained growth, reinforced by worldwide technological advances, which continued until 1973. Television weather services were commenced in 1956 and a major reorganisation in 1958 resulted in the expansion of the Research, Management and Services Divisions in the Melbourne Head Office. A hydrometeorological section was established in 1957 to provide specialised flood forecasts and river height information as part of Government's response to the severe flooding experienced in eastern Australia. The 1966 establishment of one of the three World Meteorological Centres in Melbourne and of a Regional Meteorological Centre in Darwin enhanced Australia's role in the World Meteorological Organization, which had replaced the former International Meteorological Organization in 1950. Automatic Data Processing and Facilities Divisions were created in 1968 and 1969 respectively in response to major technological advances in computing and in automated and remote sensing-based methods of observation, particularly from satellites. Regional Forecasting Centres were established within Regional Offices in the State capital cities, Darwin and Canberra in 1971 and the Bureau Head Office was consolidated at 150 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, in 1974.

Between 1974 and 1982 the Bureau endured a period of protracted and debilitating review and uncertainty. The 1976 report of the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration recommended that the Bureau be given more autonomy in conducting its affairs. The 1976 Committee of Inquiry into the Bureau of Meteorology (CIBM), established following a 1976 Green Paper that opened the Bureau's activities for public comment, proposed a major reorganisation of the Bureau which was eventually implemented, in modified form, from 1982. The Bureau's operations were also examined as part of the 1982 Review of Commonwealth Administration and the 1981 Review of Commonwealth Functions, which provided the catalyst for development of an agreement on the division of meteorological research responsibilities between the Bureau and CSIRO, the establishment of the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre and the introduction of a Research Scientist structure into the Bureau.

The Bureau's resource base declined significantly from 1973 until the early 1980s, coincident with a period of rapid growth in demand for services. Resource cuts resulted in a severe rundown of the Bureau's infrastructure and the onset of technological obsolescence. In an attempt to halt and reverse the decline in its basic infrastructure the Bureau in 1979 commenced development of plans for a ten-year re-equipment program which in 1983 was reviewed and strongly supported by the Australian Science and Technology Council. Initial implementation commenced in 1983-84, following the separate 1982 upgrade of the Bureau's obsolete central computing facility. These initiatives, together with the 1982 approval by the Public Service Board of a new program-based top structure for the Bureau, developed in response to the CIBM recommendations, were the foundations on which the rebuilding of the Bureau from 1983 was based.

As a result of significant criticism of the Bureau's tropical cyclone, fire weather and flood warning services through the early 1980s and following a series of submissions by the Meteorology Policy Committee, the Government provided additional funding to upgrade the Bureau's warning services from 1987. In 1988, following the 1984 Inquiry into Aviation Cost Recovery and the 1986 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Expenditure Inquiry into Meteorological Services, the Government reaffirmed the Bureau's primarily public interest role and agreed to ongoing government funding of the basic national meteorological infrastructure and public services, including the maintenance of six provincial Weather Service Offices previously funded from aviation sources. 

Developments in science and technology have continued to provide the Bureau with opportunities to improve its effectiveness and efficiency. Direct reception of satellite data since 1963; routine reception and processing of imagery from the Japanese Geostationary Meteorological Satellites since 1978; introduction of the computer-based Automated Regional Operations System to all forecasting offices since the early 1980s and upgrade to the Australian Integrated Forecast System from 1993; introduction of computerised telecommunications systems in 1978 and the implementation of a national packet switched network in the early 1990s; installation of a Bureau-developed national digital facsimile system by 1992; the 1988 inception and subsequent upgrades to the Bureau's in-house supercomputer capacity to support global operational numerical weather prediction and climate studies; and the expansion and upgrading of radar and surface automatic weather station networks have all contributed to the Bureau's standing as the preeminent National Meteorological Service in the southern hemisphere and one of the more technologically advanced in the world.