Eric Rolls
AM | |
---|---|
Born | Eric Charles Rolls 25 April 1923 Grenfell, New South Wales |
Died | 31 October 2007 Camden Haven | (aged 84)
Occupation | writer, environmentalist, farmer, historian |
Language | English |
Nationality | Australian |
Notable awards | Greening Australia Journalism Award
Member of the Order of Australia |
Relatives | Joan Stephenson (wife) Elaine van Kempen (wife) |
Eric Charles Rolls AM (1923–2007) was an Australian writer. [1]
Rolls was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1923, and died in Camden Haven in 2007. [2] He attended the Sydney selective school of Fort Street High, before serving in the second world war in New Guinea, [1] as a signaller. [3] 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) [4] and farmed and wrote, [1] often spending long periods in Sydney, researching at the Mitchell Library. [4]
He had two happy marriages, the first with Joan Stephenson and after her death in 1985, [5] a second with Elaine van Kempen (1937–2019), [6] whom he met when she came to work for him in 1985 as his research assistant, [7] and married in 1988. [3]
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:
" (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." [8]
Rolls' papers and sound recordings, including an interview with Hazel de Berg, are held by the National Library of Australia. [9]"Miss Strawberry's Purse" was his most popular verse.
(incomplete)
Funded by his widow, Elaine van Kempen, the Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in 2010 as a biannual lecture. [10]
2010: "Fire in 1788: The closest ally" by Bill Gammage [11]
2012: "A Meander Down a River or Two: How Water Defines Our Continent and Its Future" by Richard Kingsford [12]
2014: "The Landscape Behind the Landscape" by Nicholas Rothwell [13]
2016: "Gifts from China" by Nicholas Jose [14]
2018: "Mother Earth" by Bruce Pascoe [15]
Eric Rolls
AM | |
---|---|
Born | Eric Charles Rolls 25 April 1923 Grenfell, New South Wales |
Died | 31 October 2007 Camden Haven | (aged 84)
Occupation | writer, environmentalist, farmer, historian |
Language | English |
Nationality | Australian |
Notable awards | Greening Australia Journalism Award
Member of the Order of Australia |
Relatives | Joan Stephenson (wife) Elaine van Kempen (wife) |
Eric Charles Rolls AM (1923–2007) was an Australian writer. [1]
Rolls was born in Grenfell, New South Wales in 1923, and died in Camden Haven in 2007. [2] He attended the Sydney selective school of Fort Street High, before serving in the second world war in New Guinea, [1] as a signaller. [3] 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) [4] and farmed and wrote, [1] often spending long periods in Sydney, researching at the Mitchell Library. [4]
He had two happy marriages, the first with Joan Stephenson and after her death in 1985, [5] a second with Elaine van Kempen (1937–2019), [6] whom he met when she came to work for him in 1985 as his research assistant, [7] and married in 1988. [3]
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:
" (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." [8]
Rolls' papers and sound recordings, including an interview with Hazel de Berg, are held by the National Library of Australia. [9]"Miss Strawberry's Purse" was his most popular verse.
(incomplete)
Funded by his widow, Elaine van Kempen, the Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture was inaugurated in 2010 as a biannual lecture. [10]
2010: "Fire in 1788: The closest ally" by Bill Gammage [11]
2012: "A Meander Down a River or Two: How Water Defines Our Continent and Its Future" by Richard Kingsford [12]
2014: "The Landscape Behind the Landscape" by Nicholas Rothwell [13]
2016: "Gifts from China" by Nicholas Jose [14]
2018: "Mother Earth" by Bruce Pascoe [15]