CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17124, 20 April 1921, Page 9

CLEMENT L. WRAGGE, F.R.G.S.

F.R., MET.SOC., F.R.C.1., E'£C. SOME REMINISCENCES OP AN EVENTFUL LIFE. I am «ni "only child," Lorn at Stourbridge, England, in 1852, lost both parents in infancy, and was nurtured by a beloved grandmother at the fainilv home at Oakmoor, in the romantic and lovely Churnet Valley, North Staffordshire. Granny, taught mc the first principles of Astronomy, Geography, and the natural- Sciences; and being evidently born that way, long'before I was twelve I revelled in the stars and wondered if the Jewish God was really THE GOD of an endless Universe. A& to Geography, no boy could touch me, and Granny expounded the mysteries of the "weather glass." I rejoiced in Nature, and the surroundings of the Crystal Palace, near where I went to school, fostered my tastes. Evolution progressed 1 I finished classics with the Vicar of Launceston, romantic Cornwall compelling a, love of Nature still more. I studied navigation at Janet Taylor's Nautical Academy in London, and went to sea for experience. I have travelled in all the six divisions of the world. I founded the Wragge Museum of Ethnography, Geology, and Natural History at Stafford, England, and gave it to the country. Worked threemeteorological stations in North Staffordshire, and then founded, the Ben Nevis Observatory, climbing the mountain 4406 feet daily in all weathers. This got mo the Gold Medal. I joined tlie South Australian Survey and became devoted to science with physical astronomy and meteorology as very special lines, and started the Torrens Observatory, Adelaide, and another on Mount Lofty, S.A. and_ later on Mount Wellington, in Tasmania. Then I became Government Meteorologist of Queensland, and travelled in duty,.all over that State. I attended International Conferences and inaugurated the Observatories in the French Colony of New Caledonia, also the famous Observatory on. top of Mount Kosciusko, in New South Wales. One of my main works was the issue of weather forecaste for all Australia. Since 1903 my beloved sciences have maintained me, and given me a home in God's Own Country. All that time I have lectured on the marvels of the Universe, in England, also, all over. India, Ceylon. Australia, Fiji, Tahiti,- Tonga, and New Zealand, doing all I could to lift mankind to a nobler conception of God. and what the Eternal Universe really' means.. Radium is one of my very special subjects, and I have isplendid specimens. I have- published the "Romance of the South Seas" and other works. In constitution I am' strong and wiry as a steel rope, but in South Australia a few years ago I suffered temporarily from an awful backache and kidney trouble. Something said "Try Doan's Pills." I did so, with the result that in a little while 1 1 was cured, and; have' ; not been bother*ed with the agony since. This is, a simple fact'. I care not what the medicine is composed of, suffice it to say that it is- a boon to mankim], and I very cordially and conscientiously recommend it. And now in my 69th year I have my own Weather Bureau, which ,serves ail Australasia, and take delight in worktng with iron bar, pick, and shovel, in my beautiful tropical gardens which I macle out of a desert in my new home at "Waiata," Birkenhead; Auckland, N.Z., and which aro open to everybody. So much for "Doan," whoever he may be, and my best thanks to him. 1