Percy Trezise
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Percy Trezise AM (28 January 1923 - 10 May 2005) was an Australian pilot, painter, explorer and writer as well as, notably, a discoverer, documenter and historian of Aboriginal rock art. He was born in Tallangatta, Victoria but is associated especially with Far North Queensland and the rock art galleries of the Cape York Peninsula. He died in Cairns, Queensland.
During the second world war Trezise served in the Royal Australian Air Force. From the 1950s he worked in northern Australia as an airline 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 overflew Dunk 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, artist Ray Crooke and a collaborator with Aboriginal artist Dick 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 from James Cook University, in recognition of outstanding service to the community of far north Queensland.
[edit] 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[1] 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.
[edit] References
- Cole, Noelene. (2005). Obituary: Dr Percy Trezise. AACA Newsletter 102. [2]
