Summary

Percy Trezise (1923 - 2005) was a pilot, explorer, conservationist, author, and artist who documented Aboriginal rock art in northern Australia. From 1956 he worked as an airline pilot based in Cairns, and from the air he would gauge areas likely to contain Aboriginal rock art that he would later explore. He was instrumental in establishing the Quinkan Reserve. Percy Trezise was a Principal Investigator with Earthwatch and took volunteers to the Laura area to discover and record rock art. He collaborated on a series of children's books with Aboriginal artist Goobalathaldin, also known as Dick Roughsey. In 1996 he was awarded an Order of Australia for contributions to aviation, art, writing and Australian studies, and in 2004 James Cook University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters for his contributions to conservation, rock-art research and North Queensland studies. This archive includes diaries, personal papers such as manuscripts, as well as folders of correspondence from several organisations he was involved with in an attempt to establish a Quinkan National Park.