{{Short description|Australian farmer and environmentalist (1923–2007)}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2019}} {{use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Infobox writer | name = Eric Rolls <small> AM</small> | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Eric Charles Rolls | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1923|04|25}} | birth_place = Grenfell, New South Wales | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|10|31|1923|04|25}} | death_place = Camden Haven | occupation = writer, environmentalist, farmer, historian | language = English | nationality = Australian | education = | alma_mater = | period = | partner = | awards = Greening Australia Journalism Award<br> Member of the Order of Australia<br> Captain Cook Bicentenary Award for Non-Fiction<br> C. J. Dennis Prize<br> The Age Book of the Year<br> John Franklin Award<br> Landcare Media Award<br> Braille Book of the Year<br> Talking Book of the Year | signature = | website = | portaldisp = || imagesize = 250px | relatives = Joan Stephenson (wife)<br> Elaine van Kempen (wife) }} '''Eric Charles Rolls''' AM (1923–2007) was an Australian writer.<ref name=honours/> ==Life== Rolls was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1923, and died in Camden Haven in 2007.<ref name=birthdeath/> He attended the Sydney selective school of Fort Street High, before serving in the second world war in New Guinea,<ref name=honours/> as a signaller.<ref name=hanley>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0OEaxE-Hc0C&q=Elaine+van+Kempen&pg=PA137|title=Creative Lives: Personal Papers of Australian Writers and Artists (Eric Rolls)|last=Hanley|first=Penelope|date=2009|publisher=National Library Australia|isbn=978-0-642-27656-8|language=en}}</ref> On his return from the war, he took up land in 1946 in the north-west of New South Wales (east of the Pilliga and later at "Cumberdeen", Baradine)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/eric-rolls-and-the-pilliga/8742184|title=Eric Rolls and the Pilliga|date=2017-07-25|website=Radio National|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-30}}</ref> and farmed and wrote,<ref name=honours/> often spending long periods in Sydney, researching at the Mitchell Library.<ref name=":0" />
He had two happy marriages, the first with Joan Stephenson and after her death in 1985,<ref name=griffiths/> a second with Elaine van Kempen (1937–2019),<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-07-16|title=ELAINE VAN KEMPEN Obituary - Byron Bay, New South Wales|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/canberratimes-au/obituary-preview.aspx?n=elaine-van-kempen&pid=193407940|access-date=2020-10-08|website=Legacy.com|language=en}}</ref> whom he met when she came to work for him in 1985 as his research assistant,<ref name=obit/> and married in 1988.<ref name=hanley/>
==Work== One of his most celebrated works is A Million Wild Acres of which Tom Griffiths (emeritus professor of history at the Australian National University) wrote: <blockquote> "(Les) Murray considered A Million Wild Acres to be like an extended, crafted campfire yarn in which everyone has the dignity of a name, and in which the animals and plants have equal status with humans in the making of history: “It is not purely human history, but ecological history he gives us… one which interrelates the human and non-human dimensions so intimately.” Murray compared its discursive and laconic tone to the Icelandic sagas. Through his democratic recognition of all life, Rolls enchanted the forest and presented us with a speaking land, a sentient country raucous with sound."<ref name=golden/></blockquote>Rolls' papers and sound recordings, including an interview with Hazel de Berg, are held by the National Library of Australia.<ref>{{Citation|author1=Rolls|first=Eric C. (Eric Charles)|title=Papers of Eric Rolls, 1821-2009|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22394294|access-date=9 October 2020|author2=van Kempen|first2=Elaine}}</ref>"Miss Strawberry's Purse" was his most popular verse.
==Publications== (incomplete)<br> ===Poetry=== * 1967 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/9779065 Sheaf tosser and other poems] * 1977 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45231359 The green mosaic : memories of New Guinea] ===Books=== * 1981 – A million wild acres : 200 years of man and an Australian forest * 1984 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/21954561 The river : a chronicle of life on the land / illustrated by Marianne Yamaguchi.] * 1984 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9561260 They all ran wild : the story of pests on the land in Australia] (13 editions) * 1984/1998 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19025607 Celebration of the senses] *1992/1993 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20888369 Sojourners : the epic story of China's centuries-old relationship with Australia : flowers and the wide sea] * 1996 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45620606 Citizens : flowers and the wide sea : continuing the epic story of China's centuries-old relationship with Australia] * 2002 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/39042757 Visions of Australia : impressions of the landscape 1642–1910] * 2011 – [https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/209626331 A million wild acres : 200 years of man and an Australian forest/] foreword by Les Murray
== Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture == Funded by his widow, Elaine van Kempen, the Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in 2010 as a biannual lecture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture {{!}} National Library of Australia|url=https://www.nla.gov.au/events/eric-rolls-memorial-lecture|access-date=2020-10-08|website=www.nla.gov.au}}</ref>
2010: "Fire in 1788: The closest ally" by Bill Gammage<ref>{{Citation|author1=Gammage|first=Bill|title=Fire in 1788: The closest ally [sound recording] : the first Eric Rolls memorial lecture given by Bill Gammage at the National Library of Australia on 20 October 2010|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-222296680|year=2010|language=en|author2=Watermark Literary Society|author3=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
2012: "A Meander Down a River or Two: How Water Defines Our Continent and Its Future" by Richard Kingsford<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 July 2012|title=Richard Kingsford: A Meander Down a River or Two|url=http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2012/08/bia_20120815_2005.mp3|access-date=2020-10-09|website=ABC Radio National}}</ref>
2014: "The Landscape Behind the Landscape" by Nicholas Rothwell<ref>{{Cite web|date=22 October 2014|title=Nicolas Rothwell: The Landscape Behind the Landscape|url=https://www.nla.gov.au/news/nicolas-rothwell|access-date=2020-10-08|website=National Library of Australia|language=en|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506041107/https://www.nla.gov.au/news/nicolas-rothwell|url-status=dead}}</ref>
2016: "Gifts from China" by Nicholas Jose<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 March 2016|title=Jose Nicholas: Gifts from China|url=https://www.nla.gov.au/audio/nicholas-jose|access-date=2020-10-08|website=National Library of Australia|language=en}}</ref>
2018: "Mother Earth" by Bruce Pascoe<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 November 2018|title=Mother Earth with Bruce Pascoe|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-851428169/listen|access-date=2024-10-25|website=National Library of Australia|language=en}}</ref>
==Honours== * Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 1992<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869767 Australian Honours: AM]. Retreievd 13 October 2020</ref> * Centenary Medal, 2001<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1126365 Australian Honours: Centenary Medal]. Retrieved 13 October 2020</ref>
==References== <references>
<ref name=honours>[https://librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au/search/display?dbid=auth&id=35460237 Libraries Australia: Rolls, Eric C. (Eric Charles) 1923–2007]</ref> <ref name=birthdeath>{{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A10160?mainTabTemplate=agentWorksBy| website=www.austlit.edu.au|title=Eric Rolls|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref> <ref name=obit>{{cite web|author=Wyndham, S.|date=2007|title=Author Rolls dies aged 84|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald (2007-11-03)|access-date=2019-12-01|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/author-rolls-dies-aged-84-20071103-gdri3a.html}}</ref> <ref name=griffiths>{{cite web|url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/rolls-eric-charles-19069|title=Rolls, Eric Charles (1923–2007)|publisher=Obituaries Australia| access-date=2019-12-01|author=Griffiths, T|date=2007}}</ref> <ref name=golden>{{cite web|url=https://insidestory.org.au/golden-disobedience-the-history-of-eric-rolls|title=Golden disobedience: the history of Eric Rolls|author=Griffiths, T.|publisher=Inside Story|date=2016|access-date=2019-12-01}}</ref>
</references>
== External links == *[https://ceh.environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/news/eric-rolls-and-the-pilliga-on-abc-earshot Eric Rolls and the Pilliga] on ABC Earshot *[https://insidestory.org.au/golden-disobedience-the-history-of-eric-rolls/ Golden disobedience: the history of Eric Rolls] *[https://readingaustralia.com.au/authors/eric-rolls/ Eric Rolls] readingaustralia.com.au *[https://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Author.aspx/1040/Rolls,%20Eric UQP authors: Eric Rolls] *[https://www.abc.net.au/rn/features/inbedwithphillip/episodes/61-eric-rolls/ In Bed with Phillip: Eric Rolls]
{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls, Eric Charles}} Category:1923 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Australian writers Category:Members of the Order of Australia Category:People from Grenfell, New South Wales Category:Australian male writers