IN 1896, THERE WAS A GREAT CELEBRATION for the unveiling of West Australia’s weather observatory’s foundation stone in the Perth Park (now Kings Park and Botanic Garden). That year, Premier John Forrest said that the observatory: “... showed that in the time of our prosperity we were trying to elevate and improve the public mind and to do something for the encouragement of the arts and sciences… Western Australians might be proud they were doing something to enlighten their people and
