Guide to the Papers of Vincent Serventy, 1904-2006
Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- MS 4655, MS Acc05.013, MS Acc06.156
- Creator:
- Vincent Serventy
- Extent:
- 66.7 metres and (440 boxes, 1 folio box)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
- Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Vincent Serventy, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
Background
- Content Summary:
-
The papers mainly comprise correspondence, periodicals, meeting papers and annual reports by various literary, conservation, ornithological, national parks, wild-life, tree-preservation, limnology and other societies. They include the Wild Life Preservation Society, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the Royal Australian Ornithologists Union, the Australian Society of Authors, World Wildlife Fund (World Wide Fund for Nature), the National Trust of Australia, the Australian Heritage Commission, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Other papers in the collection include letters to Serventy from fellow naturalists, academics, societies, government departments, editors, politicians and others, together with some copies of replies; family and personal correspondence; publishers' correspondence; writings by Serventy including drafts of articles, reviews, broadcasts and books; files maintained as editor of Wildlife in Australia and Australia's wildlife heritage; subject files kept on a range of mainly conservation and natural history subjects; files relating to film and television documentaries; conference papers; newspaper cuttings and other papers.
Publications from the 1972-1986 instalments have been kept with the collection. From 1987-1991 many loose publications were either discarded or integrated with the Library's serial and monograph collections. From 1993, publications in files were retained with the collection.
- Biographical Note:
-
Writer, film maker, lecturer and conservationist. Vincent Noel Serventy was born on 6 January 1926 at Armadale, WA, the son of Victor Vincent and Annie Serventy. He was educated at Perth Modern School and the University of Western Australia, completing a Bachelor of Science (1945) and a Bachelor of Education (1950).
In 1955-58 he was a senior lecturer in science and mathematics at the Claremont Teachers' College, WA and in 1958-64 a teacher with the WA Education Department. Serventy has published more than 40 books and numerous articles on Australian natural history and conservation and made more than 50 documentary films including 'Nature walkabout'. He edited Wildlife in Australia magazine from 1966-82 and was the editor-in-chief of the five volumes of Australia's wildlife heritage, 1973-74.
Serventy has been active in numerous wildlife organisations. He led several natural history expeditions including an expedition into the Great Victoria Desert (1960), was a member of the first party to cross Lake Eyre by boat in 1975 and was zoologist to the Australian Geographic Society expedition to Recherche Archipelago in 1951. He was awarded the Australian Natural History medallion in 1974 and the Dutch Order of the Golden Ark in 1985. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1976 and an Emeritus Fellow of the Australia Council Literature Board in 1993.
He married Caroline Mary Darbyshire in 1955 and has two daughters, Karen and Cathy and one son, Matthew. Carol Serventy collaborated with her husband on several books and documentaries.
Other activities: Organiser, Earth 200 Conference for World Environment Day; Commissioner, Australian Heritage Commission; Director, Nature Conservation Service, WA; Chairman, Nature Conservation Council, NSW, 1970-73; President, Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia; President, WA Naturalists Club; Vice-President, World Wide Fund for Nature (Australia); Founder, WA National Trust; Founder, WA Tree Society; Founder, WA Gould League of Birdlovers; Established World's First Nature Conservation Day (now Earth Day); Fellow, Strehlow Foundation; Fellow, Mark Twain Society; Honorary Member, World Environment Foundation; Trustee, National Photographic Index of Wildlife; Member, National Parks Wildlife Advisory Council of NSW, 1968-78; Patron, Greening Australia (NSW); Councillor, Gould League of NSW, 1966-.
Publications: The Archipelago of the Recherche Part 2, Birds (1952); West Australian fauna (1953); Australia's Great Barrier Reef (1955); Australian nature trail (1965); A continent in danger (1966); Nature walkabout (1967); Landforms of Australia (1967); Australian wildlife conservation (1968); Wildlife of Australia (1968, rev. 1977); Australia's national parks (1969); Southern walkabout (1969); Around the bush with Vincent Serventy (1970); Dryandra (1970); The handbook of Australian sea birds (jointly, 1971); The singing land (1972); John Gould's The birds of Australia (with A.H. Chisholm, 1973); Desert walkabout (1973); Australia's wildlife heritage (with R. Raymond, 1973-75, rev. 1983); The koala (1975); In praise of Australian national parks (1977); Zoo walkabout (1979); In praise of Australian trees (1979); Glovebox guide to Australian nature (1980); Rainforests of Australia (with Robert Raymond, 1980); Lakes and rivers of Australia (with Robert Raymond, 1980); Plantlife of Australia (1981) [republished 1984 as Australian native plants]; Australian birds (1981); Australian landforms (1981); Australian wildlife (1981); Australian mother and baby animals (with C. Serventy, 1981); Coral reefs (1982); Deserts (1982); Animals in the wild(a series with John Ferguson): Penguin (1983), Kookaburra (1983), Kangaroo (1983), Koala (1983), Shark and ray (1984), Turtle and tortoise (1984), Crocodile and alligator (1984), Whale and dolphin (1984), Lizard (1985), Parrot (1985); Australia's natural wonders (1984); Australian native trees (1984); The land beyond time (jointly, 1984); The desert sea (1985); Wildlife of the Australian bush (with M. Carnegie, 1985); Wildlife of the Australian bushlands (with M. Carnegie, 1985); Wildlife of the Australian outback (with M. Carnegie, 1985); Australia's world heritage sites (1986); Saving Australia: a blueprint for our survival (1988); Australian animals and their young (1988); Koalas (with C. Serventy, 1989); Animals in danger (1989); Vincent Serventy's easy guide to green living (1990); Sydney harbour (1990); Green book (1991); Flight of the shearwater (1996); Australia's world heritage (1997); Vincent Serventy: an Australian life: memoirs of a naturalist, conservationist, traveller and writer (1999); Koalas (2002).Children's novels: Crusoe boys (1995); Turtle Bay adventure (1969).
Sources: Who's who (1998); Monash biographical dictionary of 20th century Australia (1994); Who's who of Australian writers (1991).
- Collection Retrieval Advice:
-
Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.
- Provenance:
-
The papers were donated by Serventy (mainly under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme) in numerous instalments between 1972 and 2003.
- Arrangement:
-
The early instalments (1972-91) were received in a state of great disorder, comprising almost entirely loose papers. The order of these consignments was determined by Library staff. An exception to this is the sequence of subject files of the Wild Life Preservation Society in the 1987 instalment (Files 35-59). From 1993 onwards, the papers were contained in files, although the order of the files was imposed by Library staff.
Indexed terms
- Names:
- Vincent Serventy
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2611722).
- 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 Vincent Serventy, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
- Location of this collection:
-
Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: