For nearly 60 years, Eileen Douglas has been dutifully recording the rain that falls at The Brothers, about 10 kilometres north of Benambra.
Becoming an ‘official’ volunteer rainfall reader for the Bureau of Meteorology in 1968, Mrs Douglas would wander out onto her property on a daily basis to check the rainfall gauge erected in a purposeful steel canister.
The site was authorised by the regional director of the BOM at the time, Mr Giuliano, and Mrs Douglas commenced her observations with due diligence, recording the highs and lows of rainfall at The Brothers, which saw droughts and flooding rains.
Some of the wettest years recorded were 1974, 2010, 2016 and, of course, last year – 2021 – in which 1032.8 millimetres of rain fell, only slightly below 2010’s record rainfall of 1033.4 mm.
Mrs Douglas recalls the driest year in her recording history being 2006 when just 307mm of rain fell for the year.
IMAGE: For more than half a century, Eileen Douglas, has been reading the rainfall gauge on her property at The Brothers, near Benambra, for the Bureau of Meteorology. Mrs Douglas recently retired from the volunteer role but admits some days she finds it hard to kick the daily habit of checking the gauge for rain.
