Charles Leslie Barrett (26 June 1879 – 16 January 1959) was an Australian

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. Born in

Hawthorn, Victoria Hawthorn is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, central business district, located within the City of Boroondara Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. ...

, he was a foundation member of the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native b ...

(RAOU) in 1901 and editor of its journal the ''

Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

'', 1910–1916. He also wrote for ''Walkabout''. In 1953 he was awarded the

Australian Natural History Medallion The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian natural history. The idea origin ...

. Charles Barrett also served in the AIF during the Great War. He embarked from Melbourne in May 1917 as a member of a contingent of reinforcements for the Camel Field Ambulance Unit, and served in Egypt and

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. His 1942 book, "On the Wallaby. Quest and adventure in many lands" contains an account and photographs of this mission. His son

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

moved to the

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea , officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New ...

,Barrett, Charles Leslie (1879–1959)
Australian Dictionary of Biography where he served as a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

and

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

Bibliography

As well as many articles, he wrote or contributed to numerous popular books on natural history, as well as his own travels and experiences. Some of these are: *Barrett, Charles. (1907). ''From Range to Sea. A bird lover's ways''. T.C. Lothian: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles (1913) ''The Bush Ramblers''. T. Shaw Fitchett, Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles (1915) ''The Isle of Palms''. Lothian, Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1919). ''In Australian Wilds. The gleanings of a naturalist''. Melbourne Publishing Co: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles (1922) ''Egyptian Hours''. Whitehead Morris, Alexandria. *Barrett, Charles. (1923). ''Rambles Round the Zoo''. Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd: Melbourne. * Manfield, Alice; introduction by Barrett, Charles, C.M.Z.S. (1924). ''The Lyre-Birds of Mount Buffalo''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne *Barrett, Charles. (1924) ''Bushland Babies'' Cornstalk Publishing Company 1924 *Barrett, Charles. (1931). ''The Weekly Times Wild Nature book''. Herald and Weekly Times Ltd: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1937). ''Koala. The story of Australia's native bear''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1939). ''Koonwarra. A naturalist's adventures in Australia''. Oxford University Press: London *Barrett, Charles. (1941). ''Australia: My Country''. Oxford University Press: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1942). ''From a Bush Hut''. Cassell & Co: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1942). ''On the Wallaby. Quest and adventure in many lands''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1943). ''Australian Wild Life''. Georgian House: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1943). ''Kangaroo and his Kin''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1943). ''Up North. Australia above Capricorn''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1944). ''Australian Caves, Cliffs and Waterfalls''. Georgian House: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1944). ''Australian Nature Wonders''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1944). ''The Platypus. The world's wonder animal''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1946). ''Coast of Adventure. Untamed north Australia''. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1946). ''The Bunyip, and other Mythical Monsters and Legends''. Reed & Harris: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1946). ''Wanderer's Rest''. Cassell & Co: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1949). ''Parrots of Australasia''. N.H. Seward: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1950). ''Reptiles of Australia''. Cassell: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles. (1954). ''Wild Life of Australia and New Guinea''. William Heinemann Ltd: Melbourne. *Barrett, Charles; & Burns, Alex N. (1951). ''Butterflies of Australia and New Guinea''. N.H. Seward: Melbourne.

References

*Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press.

External links

*
Bright Sparcs
* Australian War Memorial: First World War Embarkation Rol

Australian ornithologists Australian naturalists Australian nature writers Writers from Melbourne 1879 births 1959 deaths Australian book and manuscript collectors People from Hawthorn, Victoria Australian military personnel of World War I Military personnel from Melbourne People from the Colony of Victoria {{Australia-ornithologist-stub