- Percy Trezise
Percy Trezise AM (
28 January 1923 -10 May 2005 ) was anAustralia n pilot, painter, explorer andwriter as well as, notably, a discoverer, documenter and historian of Aboriginalrock art . He was born inTallangatta, Victoria but is associated especially withFar North Queensland and the rock art galleries of theCape York Peninsula . He died inCairns, Queensland .During the second world war Trezise served in the
Royal Australian Air Force . From the 1950s he worked in northern Australia as anairline pilot for Ansett and the Cairns Aerial Ambulance. From the air he learned to identify areas likely to contain Aboriginal rock art, which he subsequently explored on foot. During the 1960s he regularly overflewDunk Island attempting to locate the Aboriginal galleries mentioned by E. J. Banfield in his 'Confessions of a Beachcomber' (1908) and later walked in to find them based on his aerial observations. He is thought to be the first non-aboriginal Australian to have seen the Laura 'Quinkan' galleries.He was a friend of writer
Xavier Herbert , artistRay Crooke and a collaborator with Aboriginal artistDick Roughsey in a series of children’s books.In 1996 he was made a member of the
Order of Australia . In 2004, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters fromJames Cook University , in recognition of outstanding service to the community of far north Queensland.Bibliography
Books authored by Trezise include:
* 1969 - "Quinkan Country. Adventures in search of aboriginal cave paintings in Cape York". Reed Australia.
* 1973 – "Last Days of a Wilderness". Collins: Sydney.
* 1997 – "Dream Road: A Journey of Discovery". Allen & Unwin:Percy Tresize made a
video [http://www.humanrightstv.com/series/56] on his 75th birthday in which he talks about his life and Dick Roughsey. This is the last known video interview where he discusses the importance of indigenous Australian culture and how he was drawn to rock art from his early days as a bush pilot with the flying doctor service.References
* Cole, Noelene. (2005). Obituary: Dr Percy Trezise. "AACA Newsletter" 102. [http://www.aacai.com.au/newsletter/102.html#obituary]
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