From "CSIRO research fro Australia" (1962) pdf page 48:
" . . . it was not until 1937 that the report of a Secondary Industries Testing Research Advisory Committee (of which Sir John was a member) Jed to the setting up of a National Standards Laboratory within C.S.I.R. 1t was decided that the Laboratory should consist of the Section of Metrology, Physics, and Electrotechnology.

In 1938 leaders of the three groups were chosen. Mr. N. A. Esserman (later the first Director of the Laboratory) came from the Munitions Supply Laboratory to take charge of Metrology, and two Sydney University men, Dr. . H. Briggs and Dr. D. M. Myers, were appointed Officer -in-Charge or the Physics and Electrotechnology Sections. A year later, construction of the Laboratory began in the grounds or the University of Sydney.

When the war broke out in 1939, the three Officers-in-Charge were overseas, where they had been looking at standards research and seeking standards equipment. Fortunately, some equipment was obtained, and when the Officers-in-Charge returned from oversea it was possible for the Laboratory to commence functioning and devote its entire effort to defence work."

"Optical glass had not been produced in Australia before the war, and the Physics Section was called on to advise on its manufacture for lenses and prisms for such instruments as telescope and range finders. The Physics Section became involved in many other problems, ranging from the development of aircraft-spotting goggle to the production
of jewelled bearings for instruments."