{{Short description|Australian artist (1923–2005)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} '''Percy Trezise''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} (28 January 1923 – 11 May 2005) was an Australian [[aviator|pilot]], [[painting|painter]], [[exploration|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]].
==Life == Trezise was born in Tallangatta (northern Victoria), of [[Cornish descent]],<ref>[[Philip Payton|Payton, Philip]], ''Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia's Little Cornwall'', [[University of Exeter Press]], 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-85989-795-2}}</ref> 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]] while a student in high school. During [[World War II]], Trezise served in the [[Royal Australian Air Force]], surviving the crash of a [[CAC Wackett|Wackett]] trainer in August 1942.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dunn|first=Peter|title=Crash of a Wackett Trainer 10 Miles North of Conargo, Vic on 25 August 1942|url=https://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/vic175.htm|work=AUSTRALIA @ WAR}}</ref> From 1956 he worked in northern Australia as an [[airline pilot]] for [[Ansett Australia|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 [[Edmund James Banfield|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]], artists [[Ray Crooke]] and Ron Edwards and a collaborator with [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal]] artist [[Dick Roughsey]] in a series of children’s picture books.
He died in [[Cairns, Queensland]].
==Honours == 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. An episode of ''[[Australian Story]]'', "Set In Stone" (2014), was dedicated to Percy Trezise. Introduced by [[Australian of the Year]], [[Adam Goodes]], it focuses on Trezise's 50 year relation with [[Quinkan rock art]] that continues with his sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/austory/specials/setinstone/default.htm?site=goldcoast|title=Set In Stone|date=2014-03-31|work=[[Australian Story]]|publisher=[[ABC Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television]]|accessdate=2 April 2014}}</ref>
==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. {{ISBN|0-207-17200-5}} *1993 – ''Dream Road: A Journey of Discovery''. Allen & Unwin:
Percy Tresize made a [[video]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.humanrightstv.com/series/56 |title=HumanRightsTV > > Percy Tresize |website=www.humanrightstv.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712231402/http://www.humanrightstv.com/series/56 |archive-date=12 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> 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== {{Reflist}} {{Refbegin}} * Cole, Noelene. (2005). Obituary: Dr Percy Trezise. ''AACA Newsletter'' '''102'''. [http://www.aacai.com.au/newsletter/102.html#obituary] * Kolbe, U. & Maza, B. (1987) ''Story Makers: Part two Percy Tresize & Dick Roughsey: A journey to Qunkin Country'' [Resource Kit-Notes & Video], Discover Film Australia. {{Refend}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trezise, Percy}} [[Category:20th-century Australian non-fiction writers]] [[Category:Australian people of Cornish descent]] [[Category:Members of the Order of Australia]] [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:Australian modern painters]] [[Category:20th-century Australian male artists]] [[Category:Australian commercial aviators]] [[Category:Australian male painters]]