Queensland Times (Ipswich) 13th April 1928
Inigo Jones became quite famous as a long range forecaster during his lifetime, although opinions about the accuracy of his predictions were mixed. His Brisbane home from where he conducted his research in the 1920s and 30s is still standing today in Bower Street, Dutton Park.
Inigo Jones was born in England in 1872 and was descendent from both the 17th century architect of the same name and the Bernoulli family of mathematicians. He travelled with his family to Queensland when he was two years old. Jones won a scholarship to Brisbane Boys Grammar School, but instead of finishing his schooling, he was convinced by the brilliant but eccentric Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge to complete a cadetship with him.
Clement Wragge in 1899, State Library of Queensland
Inigo Jones became interested in long range forecasting during the time he worked with Wragge, who had picked up ideas on planetary effects on climate at the 1891 world meteorology conference at Munich, Germany. Jones’ prediction of the end of a prolonged drought brought him to the attention of the media.
His forecasts and articles were widely published in newspapers throughout Australia from then up until the time of his death in 1954.
Sydney Truth 20th August 1950 (TROVE)
Some people put great faith indeed in his predictions. This Highgate Hill women thought water restrictions would have been removed because of his forecast of a flood.
Telegraph (Brisbane), Tuesday 30th January 1945
A measure of the enduring memory of his work in rural Australia is that the iconic Australian country music performer Slim Dusty wrote a song about him which appeared on his 1981 album “Where Country Is”.
Inigo Jones established an observatory in a house at the corner of Bower Street and High Street in Highgate Hill. In around 1936, he moved to the family farm ”Crohamhurst” near Peachester on the Sunshine Coast from where he observed sunspot cycles from a purpose built observatory. He believed these and the interaction of the magnetic fields of larger planets influenced our weather.
Inigo and Marion Jones having afternoon tea at Crohamhurst (State Library of Queensland)
Jones believed from his research that there were five main cyclical periods of 35, 59, 71, 84, and 165 years. He investigated historical records of weather from these periods in the past to predict the future. Whilst his method has now been disproved, he was ahead of his time in recognizing the importance of magnetic fields.
Inigo jones (1872 – 1954) State Library of Victoria
Lennox Walker, Inigo Jones’ assistant, and later his son Haydn Walker carried on forecasting work from Crohamhurst Observatory.
Further details of Inigo Jones’ methods can be found here.
Also of interest is his biography.
Highgate Hill and Its History 
Did anyone walker or Indio jones predict 2019 lad floods
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Not that I know of Rodney
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No but he said the 2019 drought would end this summer
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No! BECAUSE THEY ARE BOTH DECEASED. Stupid comment.
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My name is Stephen Whitehead. I live on a small beef cattle farm in Lake Condah Victoria which is part of the Green Triangle (south west victoria). We haven’t had decent rain for nearly 6 months now and have no feed for our cattle. Are we going to get our Autumn break soon or do I need to prepare my animals for a drought. I have enough hay to last me to the end of August. Will we be getting average rainfall this year? What are your predictions for current and future rainfall? Thanking you for your expected reply. Regards Stephen
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Hello Stephen, unfortunately I’m just someone who is interested in Inigo Jones and wrote about his life. I don’t know anything about weather prediction. I really hope you get some rain soon.
Paul
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My father was always quoting a supposed prediction by Inigo that there would be a drought so bad all the cattle in Australia could shelter under one tree
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i do remember that prediction,you must understand that inidgo jones forecasts were not always right. this drought very much the same as the federation drought. very low sunspot activity. according to weather maps of that time and now,very much the same. no real change to the middle of next year 2020,there will be some rain mid November 2019 through till Christmas. a lot of those cattle are setting under that tree now.
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listening to the radio last night ( 01/11/2019 ) and heard that a time capsule had been recovered and a local paper stated that Inigo Jones has predicted the worse drought in history in Australia and would break on the 14th November 2019.
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Gee what local paper was that?, Sounds Great
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news to me,hope he is correct. just remember we must be getting closer.
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Well, Inigo had some good insights but that prediction did not pan out. I wish it did. Hopefully his prediction was just a few months too early.
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12 (twelve) days to go …. I’ll tell my garden …. to sweat it out, Christmas is coming.
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His predictions were based on planet and astronomical movements, not on human causes. I remember in 1951 my dad reading the paper of this drought and we asked him how will we survive? He replied we will have the farm fully irrigated by then. He not imagining the river could be dry.
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Well today is the 15th of November and the sky is clear blue. As kids in the 40’s we had some bad droughts in Queensland and most people believed in Indigo Jones as he was mostly spot on in his predictions!
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