Inigo Jones was a well-known long-range weather forecaster throughout Australia from the 1920s until his death in 1954 and Crohamhurst Observatory has a special association with his life and work.

The hypothesis was that as sunlight dominates humanity's experience of weather, then the sunspot cycle might set in motion regular changes in the Earth's climate.

Consequently, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many scientists and enthusiastic amateurs embarked on the hunt for climatic cycles, believing that if such patterns could be found, then it might be possible to forecast the weather months, perhaps years ahead.

He asked the Queensland Government Meteorologist, Clement Wragge, to investigate and in particular to examine the work of Austrian scientist Eduard Bruckner, who claimed to have discovered a 35-year cycle in the climatic records of Europe.

These "teleconnections" between weather conditions in different parts of the world such as simultaneous drought in India and Australia, named the Southern Oscillations, were documented and their potential use in seasonal prediction demonstrated.

This appetite was met in part by Inigo Jones who from 1923 until his death in 1954 provided long-range seasonal weather forecasts from Crohamhurst and Brisbane, depending on his residence.

[1] In 1888 he left school to take up employment at the Queensland Meteorological Bureau working for Clement Lindley Wragge, who had been appointed Colonial Meteorologist in 1887.

He worked there until his family left Brisbane in late 1892 to take up residence on a property near Peachester, that they named Crohamhurst after Lord Goschen's Surrey estate.

He achieved lasting recognition of his meteorological observations when on 2 February 1893 he recorded the highest daily rainfall in Australia (35.71 inches (907 mm)) at Crohamhurst.

Through his correspondence with Cyrus Macfarlane the science writer for Brisbane's Daily Mail newspaper, Jones gained his first weather forecast publication.

In the same month the Inigo Jones Seasonal Weather Forecasting Trust was formed with contributions from governments and industry, with the Lord Mayor of Brisbane as Chairman.

The Trust raised funds to further Jones' research and successfully lobbied the Queensland State Government to provide an annual subsidy.

In 1942 the Long-Range Weather Forecasting Trust, a non-profit body, was established by organisations within primary industry and with further financial assistance from the Queensland Government to enable Jones to pursue his research at Crohamhurst until his death in 1954.

He saw the whole solar system as simply a vast electromagnetic machine automatically controlled by the magnetic fields of the planets, which applies among other things, to the seasons.

Although he had received some support from the Queensland government, the newspaper noted that Commonwealth authorities had been "stubbornly turning deaf ears to his claims".

[1] Jones' persistent attempts to have his predictive methods recognised as soundly based, by any substantial body of accredited scientific opinion, failed.

Biographer, Tim Sherratt, believes that even if Jones' predictions were not valid, he was providing farmers with data on average seasonal conditions in a form that they could use and understand.

[1] The observatory building at Crohamhurst, which was financed by the Seasonal Weather Forecasting Trust and the Colonial Sugar Refining Co., was opened on 13 August 1935 by the Queensland Governor Sir Leslie Wilson, Inigo Jones' friend and supporter.

The building consisted of a large computing room and a laboratory and provision was made for additions when required at the south-east corner.

He had already made experimental tree plantings on his property including a row of hoop pines on the northern boundary, and believed the land best used for that purpose.

This was occupied by Jones' assistant, and in 1953 he employed (Robert) Lennox Walker who, following Army service in World War II, had trained and worked as a forester and surveyor in Victoria and Queensland.

However, the deep earth temperature pits and the Stevenson screen which sheltered instruments from direct sunlight, wind and rain, remain in situ.

The Observatory is set on the summit of a dome-shaped hill on maintained, open lawn and is surrounded by mature hoop pine trees.

[1] Several meteorological devices are visible around the site including a Stevenson Screen to the north-east of the observatory building which consists of a small louvred timber enclosure set on a steel frame approximately 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) high.

To the north of the Stevenson Screen are the remains of other meteorological devices which consist of a concrete strip with various pipes cut off at ground level sunk into it.

[1] To the east of the observatory building are other meteorological devices including deep earth temperature pits formed from clay pipes covered with sheet metal caps which protrude approximately 300 millimetres (12 in) out of the ground.

It is the site of nationally-recognised long-range weather forecasting undertaken for dissemination throughout Australia and provides important early evidence of the techniques used.

Its purpose-built observatory building and surviving open-air meteorological apparatus including deep earth temperature pits, Stevenson Screen and other meteorological devices provide rare surviving evidence of the early practice of long-range weather forecasting, an uncommon aspect of Queensland's cultural heritage.

The Crohamhurst Observatory has a strong association with the life and work of Inigo Jones, well-known long-range weather forecaster throughout Queensland and Australia, from the 1920s until his death in 1954.