Sunshine, Snow, Wind and Rain

Abstract

It was customary once to think that New England's weather was like the weather 'at Home', that is, in England, Scotland and Ireland. This idea might have been comforting for settlers, but it did not encourage the interest of weather specialists during the colonial period, especially since the meteorological novelties of other parts of Australia were more obvious and intriguing.Also, the Government Meteorologist in Sydney during the late nineteenth century was mainly concerned with Australia as a whole, and New England was not a critical piece in his jigsaw. This officer, Henry Chamberlain Russell, set up weather stations or in other words observation points from which he heard about local conditions by daily telegraph throughout the colony, but he was slow to extend his net to New England. In 1877, when he began to publish weather maps in the Sydney Morning Herald-the first such publications anywhere in the world-the only weather stations on the Tableland were at Tenterfield and Armidale. There were others nearby, however, at Grafton, Inverell, Narrabri and Tamworth.Local settlers were more observant. For instance, Albert Norton, who lived near Walcha in the 1850s, remarked on the possible effect of climate on Tableland forests. 'The district of New England,' he said, 'is subject to sudden and severe changes of temperature.' Also, he went on, although the region had copious rain, 'it is also subject of long periods of comparatively dry weather'.