Guide to the Papers of Michael Terry, 1884-1997

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 611
Creator:
Terry, Michael
Extent:
2.88 metres and (15 ms boxes + 1 medium folio box + 1 volume)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Michael Terry, National Library of Australia, MS 611, [series/file/item number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Biographical Note:

Michael Terry was born in 1899 at Tyneside, Durham. He served in World War I as an armoured car driver for the Royal Naval Air Service in Russia; his capture and near execution by the Blosheviks was among the first of many varied adventures that he experienced during his long lifetime.

Invalided to Australia with a chest complaint, Terry worked first as a mechanic in Perth, then lived at various towns as a driver, mechanic and stationhand. He started the first regular truck run in New South Wales, from the Clarence River to New England.

Terry is best known for the many inland exploration ventures (fourteen in all) that he undertook between 1923 and 1938. He used both vechicular and camel transport on these trips. His 1923 crossing of Australia from Winton, Queensland to Broome in a second-hand Ford car was the first time such a vehicular crossing had been made; a Darwin-Broome expedition in 1925 used Guy Roadless tractor-trucks, while the 1928 Terry expedition utilised Morris six-wheel trucks under that company's sponsorship. Terry became well-known in Australia and England, particularl for his 1923 and 1925 trips (a film being made of the latter) and was made a Fellow of Royal Geographical Society for his achievements at this time. His later expeditions often used camels and were mineral-seeking ventures for various companies. On one of his trips, he encountered notes by Harold Lasseter near Lake Christopher, N. T. Married 1940 Ursula.

During World War II Terry was not eligible for active military service, but was engaged by the N.S.W. Department of Main Roads to write an account of its war role (published as Bulldozer in 1945).

From 1944 to 1959 Terry farmed at his property "Dummer" near Gosford. During that period he transformed to land an uncleared state and in addition to cultivation of orchards and pastorage, constructed a road and house.

Terry was a personal friend of Hudson Fysh, and was for 5 years in the later 1960s co-opted by Qantas to gather travel promotion stories and photographs on Pacific Islands, notably New Caledonia and Fiji. Terry became very interested in Australian prehistory (especially pre-Cook archaeology) in his later years and used a number of his archaeological finds in Queensland, central and Western Australia to argue that Chinese were in Australia 45, 000 years ago, Egyptians 2000 years ago, the Japanese 500, and the Spaniards (at Sydney Harbour) 170 years before Cook.

A prolific writer, Terry published books on his adventures, and contributed many articles to magazines and newspapers for over half a century.

His activities increasingly restricted by poor health, Terry died in Sydney in 1981 at the age of 82. He maintained to the time of his death a spirit of adventure, and a love of the Australian outback that he knew so well.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The Terry Collection was acquired over a number of years by the National Library from Mr Terry.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1130492).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Michael Terry, National Library of Australia, MS 611, [series/file/item number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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