Basic Biographical Information
Percy Trezise (1923–2005), who became a pioneer of Australian rock art research, was born in 1923 and raised in country Victoria. He trained as an RAAF pilot in World War II and after the war became a commercial pilot. Following a stint in the Kimberley flying for the Air Beef scheme, he moved to Cairns in 1957 to take up a position with Ansett Airlines. As a pilot for Ansett and the Cairns Aerial Ambulance, Trezise flew regularly across Cape York Peninsula, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the Torres Straits, transporting freight and passengers to and from remote cattle stations, bush settlements, and Indigenous communities. In his spare time, he developed his skills as an artist and embarked on a parallel career as a landscape painter and author and illustrator of children’s books.
Although not professionally trained in anthropology (or archaeology), Trezise developed a serious interest in Aboriginal culture as a result of his experiences in the bush and...
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References
Cole, N. 2011 ‘Rock paintings are stories’: rock art and ethnography in the Laura (Quinkan) region, Cape York Peninsula. Rock Art Research 28(1): 107-16.
Cole, N. & A. Buhrich 2012. Endangered rock art: 40 years of cultural heritage management in the Quinkan region, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Australian Archaeology 75: 66–77.
MacIntosh, N.W.G. Review of ‘Quinkan Country’. Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 5(1): 81-3.
Roughsey, D. (Goobalathaldin) 1975. Moon and rainbow: the autobiography of an Aboriginal. Perth: Rigby.
Trezise, P. 1969. Quinkan country. Sydney: Reed.
- 1971. Rock art of south-east Cape York Peninsula. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
- 1993. Dream road: a journey of discovery. St. Leonards: Allen and Unwin.
Trezise, P. & D. Roughsey. 1975. The Cape York galleries: development or destruction, in R. Edwards (ed.) The preservation of Australia’s Aboriginal heritage(Report of the National Seminar on ‘Aboriginal Antiquity in Australia’ 23-24 May 1972):149-156. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
Further Reading
Cole, N. 2005. Percy Trezise OA Obituary. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1: 131-3.
Cole, N. & A. Buhrich. 2012. Endangered rock art: 40 years of cultural heritage management in the Quinkan region, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Australian Archaeology 75: 66–77.
Morwood, M. J. & D. R. Hobbs. (ed.) 1992. Quinkan prehistory: the archaeology of Aboriginal art in s.e. Cape York Peninsula (Tempus 3). St. Lucia: Anthropology Museum, University of Queensland.
Morwood, M. & P. Trezise. 1989. Edge-ground axes in Pleistocene Australia: new evidence from s.e. Cape York Peninsula. Queensland Archaeological Research 6: 77-90.
Rosenfeld, A., D. Horton & J. Winter. 1981.Early man in North Queensland: art and archeology in the Laura area. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.
Trezise, P. 1973.Last days of a wilderness. London: Collins.
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Cole, N. (2014). Trezise, Percy. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2399
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