Ray Wilkie, a former meteorologist and Network 10 weather presenter, has died at the age of 98.
Brisbane 4BC radio presenter Spencer Howson broke the news from Wilkie’s son on Saturday night. He was also the brother of former Sydney meteorologist and television weather presenter Alan Wilkie.
After serving with the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II, Wilkie graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland before studying meteorology in Melbourne.
Wilkie worked with the Bureau of Meteorology for 35 years, including as regional director in Brisbane and in Darwin, reportedly as the first BoM expert to make the leap to television.
From 1985 he became a weather presenter for Eyewitness reports in Brisbane. She continued into the 1990s and gained a national profile when predictions of him appeared on the late night national news.
In his 1988 book, Ray Wilkie’s Australian Weather, he recalled the events of Cyclone Tracy in 1974, as he kept phoning ABC until 2:30 a.m. as rain and wind poured in through the broken windows of his seventh-floor offices.
He was involved in the development of the Tropical Cyclone Warning Service for Northern Australia and has written many articles for local and international publication.
In 1984 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for community meteorological services.
Bill McDonald and Spencer Howson of 4BC they were also joined by former newsreaders Glenn Taylor and Kristin Devitt as well as war historian Kieran McCarthy to remember Wilkie.
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Source: TelevisionAU
