{{Short description|Australian weather presenter (1925–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Ray Wilkie | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OAM|size=100%}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|01|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Ayr, Queensland, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|05|18|1925|01|14|df=y}} | death_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | occupation = Meteorologist, television weather presenter | years_active = 1950–2020 | television = ''Ten Eyewitness News'' | known_for = Presenting television weather reports for the ABC, Nine Network and Network 10 | alma_mater = University of Queensland (BSc) | family = Alan Wilkie (younger brother) }}

'''William Raymond Wilkie''' (14 January 1925 – 18 May 2023) was an Australian meteorologist who worked with the Bureau of Meteorology, he was best known for presenting television weather reports.<ref name=obit>{{cite web |url=https://televisionau.com/2023/05/obituary-ray-wilkie.html|title=Obituary: Ray Wilkie|last=Bayley|first=Andrew|date=21 May 2023|website=Television.AU|publisher= |access-date=22 May 2023|quote=}}</ref> He delivered nightly weather reports firstly at the ABC and then for both the Nine Network with Nine News<ref name="wilkie" /> and for Network Ten, where he presented for ''Ten Eyewitness News'' and also Ten's national late night bulletin.<ref name=obit/><ref name=wilkie>{{cite news|last=Powell|first=Sian|date=16 May 1991|title=Next week, the weather is likely to be Wilkie|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-next-week-the/125096611|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|location= |access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

He was the elder brother of meteorologist and radio and TV weather reporter Alan Wilkie

==Biography== ===Early life=== William Raymond Wilkie was born in Ayr, Queensland on 14 January 1925. to William Wilkie senior (born c.1892) and Daisy Isobel Lewis (c. 1900-1945), his mother died when he was 20 and his younger brother Allan was 16<ref name="trove">{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspapers/article/155506139|title=Notices}}</ref><ref name=record>{{cite web |url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5526845|title=WILKIE, WILLIAM RAYMOND (Series A9301 - RAAF Personnel files of non-commissioned officers and other ranks (1921-1948))|author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=NAA RecordSearch|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=22 May 2023|quote=Service number: 435361; Date of birth: 14 Jan 1925; Place of birth: AYR, QLD; Place of enlistment: Brisbane}}</ref> Wilkie served with the Royal Australian Air Force as a flight lieutenant, where he was posted in England and Europe.<ref name="tvtobit">{{cite web|url=https://televisionau.com/2023/05/obituary-ray-wilkie.html|title=Obituary: Ray Wilkie}}</ref> He graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Science and then studied meteorology in Melbourne.<ref name=record/><ref name=obit/>

===Career=== Wilkie obtained employment with the Bureau of Meteorology, where he worked for 35 years.<ref name=obit/> During this time, he served as a regional director in Brisbane and in Darwin.<ref name=obit/>

Wilkie was on duty in the Darwin office in 1974 when Cyclone Tracy struck the city.<ref name=obit/> He was subsequently involved in the establishment of the Bureau's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (TCWC).<ref name=obit/>

Wilkie started in career in television presenting weather reports in 1956, on the ABC and spent 14 years at the Nine Network from 1977 and 1991

From 1985, he worked for Network Ten in Brisbane where he presented weather bulletin's for ''Ten Eyewitness News''. From 1991, he also presented the weather on Ten Eyewitness News with Katrina Lee and John Mangos for Ten's Sydney Bulletin and also presented for the national late news bulletin.<ref name=obit/><ref name=wilkie/>

In 1988, he authored a book called ''Ray Wilkie's Australian Weather'' where he recounted his experience during Cyclone Tracy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkie|first=Ray|author-link= |date=1988|title=Ray Wilkie's Australian Weather|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYugAAAACAAJ|location= |publisher=Network 10|page= |isbn=0731625692}}</ref>

===Personal life=== Ray Wilkie brother of Alan Wilkie, a meteorologist and television weather presenter based in Sydney, who also worked for the Commonwealth of Meteorology from 1950 and 1960, and became the first weather presenter on television presenting at the ABC from 1956 to 1960, and then the Seven Network from 1968 to 1976, but was best known for his 25 year tenure presenting bulletins on ''National Nine News'' from 1977 until 2001. Alan died in Sydney, New South Wales on 10 July 2023, at the age of 94.<ref name=obit/>

===Honours=== In 1977, Wilkie received a Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/file/1977P07|title=Silver Jubilee Medal recipients|author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1 August 1977|website=Commonwealth of Australia Gazette|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=22 May 2023|quote=...William Raymond WILKIE, Darwin}}</ref>

In 1984, he was awarded an OAM in the 1984 Australia Day Honours in recognition of his public service.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885133|title=AWARD ID: 885133|author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Australian Honours Search Facility|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=22 May 2023|quote=}}</ref><ref name=obit/>

In 2020, he underwent surgery at Greenslopes Private Hospital to correct a bowel condition.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bennion|first=Brian|date=4 April 2020|title=Breakthrough surgery saves weatherman Ray Wilkie|url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/southeast/breakthrough-surgery-saves-weatherman-ray-wilkie/news-story/47930ea43d0f8381e393e78e582d19ac|work=The Courier-Mail|location= |access-date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

===Death=== Ray Wilkie died in Brisbane, Queensland on 18 May 2023, at the age of 98.<ref>{{Cite tweet |last=Howson|first=Spencer|author-link=Spencer Howson|user=SpencerHowson|number=1659862943205568514|date=20 May 2023|title=Death of Ray Wilkie|script-title= |trans-title= |language= |retweet= |location= |access-date=22 May 2023|link=https://twitter.com/SpencerHowson/status/1659862943205568514|archive-url= |archive-date= |quote=Former TV weather presenter Ray Wilkie’s son Rob has just confirmed to me that Ray died on Thursday night. “He was 98, and his time had come”.|ref=}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkie, Ray}} Category:1925 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Australian television weather presenters Category:Australian television newsreaders and news presenters Category:People from Ayr, Queensland