Marion Wyndham and the 'Wollong' Weather Diaries, 1891 to 1928

Abstract

<p>On the first Monday of June 1891, eighteen-year-old Marion Wyndham recorded details of her first weather observation at her parent's vineyard, 'Wollong' at Mt Vincent, in the New South Wales Hunter Valley (north of Newcastle). She observed and recorded wind direction, wind force and cloud cover. Maximum and minimum temperatures and rain were added the next day. On that first Monday in June 1891, Marion Wyndham also noted in a clear cursive script on the rough sheet of lined paper that it was a 'mild morning. Sky and atmosphere brilliantly clear. Soft fleecy clouds fast moving from WNW. Other clouds of a thunderstorm appearance rising behind them'.² This 9 am activity became part of her daily routine for the next 37 years until her death in 1928, although only the rainfall records were reported to the NSW Government Astronomer before 1908 and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (Bureau) after that. Other details of temperature, wind direction and force, clouds, storms and frosts were retained in handwritten books on the property. </p>