Following a report in 1937 by H.E. Wemperis of the Royal
Aeronautical Society, recommending the establishment of a laboratory to serve the needs of an aircraft industry, the R.A.A.F., Civil Aviation, and the Automotive Industry, it was decided to establish a Division of Aeronautics under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Mr L.P. Coombes of the Royal Aeronautical Establishment, Farnborough, arrived in Melbourne in January 1939, at the invitation of the Commonwealth Government, to organize and take charge of the Division. By April 1940 the first buildings had been completed at Fishermen's Bend in Victoria. Mr Coombes remained as Chief of the Division until its re-establishment in 1949 as the Aeronautical Research Laboratories. (CA 2307).

Although the Prime Minister's Department was responsible for the administration of the Science and Industry Research Act, the following were Ministers-in-charge of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research between 1940 and 1949:
(14 Mar-13 Aug)1940: Sir Henry Somner Gullett, Vice-President of the Executive Council (CA 1402)
(14 Aug-28 Oct)1940: H.B. Collett, Vice-President of the Executive Council
(28 Oct)1940-1941(29 Aug): H.E. Holt, Minister for Labour and National Service (CA 40)
(7 Oct)1941-1949(19 Dec): J.J. Dedman, Minister for War
Organization of Industry (CA 45) to 1945, then Minister for Post-war Reconstruction (CA 49) to 1946, and then Minister for Defence (CA 46)  

Lorimer Street, Fishermen's Bend, Melbourne