Clement Wragge Director of the Chief Weather Bureau

Early in the 20th century, Queensland was experiencing a terrible drought and the government’s meteorologist, Clement Wragge, believed he had a solution. Wragge had researched the use throughout Europe of the Steiger Vortex gun to break up hail in clouds, preventing damage to crops. He surmised that the same technique could be employed to make rain fall on drought-stricken Queensland.