Percy Trezise (28 January 1923 – 11 May 2005) was an Australian

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

as well as, notably, a "discoverer", documenter, and historian of

Aboriginal rock art Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving, ro ...

. He was born in

Tallangatta, Victoria Tallangatta () is a town in north-eastern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town lies on the banks of the Mitta Mitta River, Mitta Arm of Lake Hume, approximately south-east of Albury-Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway. At the ...

but is associated especially with

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

and the rock art galleries of the

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

Life

Trezise was born in Tallangatta (northern Victoria), of Cornish descent, and attended a bush school followed by Albury High School. His interest in Aboriginal peoples began when he won a copy of ''The'' ''Red Centre'' by

Hedley Herbert Finlayson Hedley Herbert Finlayson (1895–1991) was an Australian mammalogist, author and photographer. Associated with the South Australian Museum, he is recognised for his extensive surveys and research on mammals in Central Australia and systematically ...

while a student in high school. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Trezise served in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

, surviving the crash of a Wackett trainer in August 1942. From 1956 he worked in northern Australia as an

airline pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

for

Ansett Ansett Australia, originally Ansett Airways, was a major Australian airline group based in Melbourne, Victoria. The company operated domestically within Australia, and from the 1990s, to destinations in Asia. Following 65 years of operation, ...

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 overflew

Dunk Island Dunk Island, known as ''Coonanglebah'' in the Warrgamay and Dyirbal languages, is an island within the locality of Dunk in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies off the Australian east coast, opposite the town of Missio ...

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 was a friend of writer

Xavier Herbert Xavier Herbert (born Alfred Jackson; 15 May 190110 November 1984) was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel '' Poor Fellow My Country'' (1975). He was considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian lite ...

, artists Ray Crooke and Ron Edwards and a collaborator with Aboriginal artist

Dick Roughsey Dick Roughsey (c. 1920 – 1985) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Lardil language group on Mornington Island in the south-eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland. His tribal name was Goobalathaldin, meaning “the ocean, dancing”, d ...

in a series of children’s picture books. He died in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Welling ...

Honours

In 1996, he was made a member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

. In 2004, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

, in recognition of outstanding service to the community of far north Queensland. An episode of ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs, AB ...

'', "Set In Stone" (2014), was dedicated to Percy Trezise. Introduced by

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

, it focuses on Trezise's 50 year relation with Quinkan rock art that continues with his sons.

Bibliography

Books authored or illustrated by Trezise include: *1969 - ''Quinkan Country. Adventures in search of aboriginal cave paintings in Cape York''. (With Dick Roughsey). Reed Australia. *1971 - ''Rock Art of South-East Cape York''. Monograph. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. *1973 – ''Last Days of a Wilderness''. Collins: Sydney. *1986 - ''Ngalculli the Red Kangaroo''. *1987 - ''Platypus and Kookaburra''. (Written by Rex Ingamellis and illustrated by Percy Trezise and Mary Haginikita). *1991 - ''Mungoon-Gali, the Giant Goanna''. Angus & Robertson: Sydney. *1993 – ''Dream Road: A Journey of Discovery''. Allen & Unwin: Percy Tresize made a

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

on his 75th birthday in which he talks about his life and Dick Roughsey. This is one of the last known video interviews 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

* Kolbe, U. & Maza, B. (1987) ''Story Makers: Part two Percy Tresize & Dick Roughsey: A journey to Qunkin Country'' esource Kit-Notes & Video Discover Film Australia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Trezise, Percy 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian people of Cornish descent Members of the Order of Australia 1923 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Australian painters Australian modern painters 20th-century Australian male artists Commercial aviators Australian male painters