Percy Trezise AM (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 directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

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

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

. He was born in

Tallangatta, Victoria Tallangatta () is a town in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. The town lies on the banks of the Mitta Arm of Lake Hume, approximately south-east of Albury-Wodonga along the Murray Valley Highway. At the , Tallangatta had a population of 1,1 ...

but is associated especially with

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

and the rock art galleries of the

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

. He died in

Cairns, Queensland Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

. Trezise was born in Tallangatta (northern Victoria), of Cornish descent, and attended a bush school followed by Albury Highschool. His interest in Aboriginal people began when he won a copy of the ''Red Centre'' written by Findlayson during his years at highschool. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Trezise served in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

, 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 a ...

for

Ansett Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into adminis ...

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 li ...

, artists

Ray Crooke Ray Austin Crooke (12 July 19225 December 2015) was an Australian artist known for his landscapes. He won the Archibald Prize in 1969 with a portrait of George Johnston. Early life Ray Crooke was born in Auburn, Victoria in 1922. He spent time ...

and Ron Edwards and a collaborator with Aboriginal artist

Dick Roughsey Dick Roughsey (ca. 1920 – 1985) was an Indigenous Australians, 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 � ...

in a series of children’s picture books.

Honours

In 1996 he was made a member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

. 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 Cairn ...

, 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. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...

'', "Set In Stone" (2014), was dedicated to Percy Tresize. 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 Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

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 Quinkan rock art refers to a large body of locally, nationally and internationally significant Indigenous Australian rock art, Aboriginal rock art in Australia of a style characterised by their unique representations of "Quinkans" (an Australian ...

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 electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

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 20th-century Australian male artists Commercial aviators Australian male painters