Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I congratulate you on your election to your important office. I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the life of Vincent Serventy, and I am indebted in that regard to an article which appeared in a publication of the National Museum written by Tom Campbell.

Vincent Serventy died at the family home at Pearl Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast on 8 September last year, aged 91. Vin Serventy, his brother Dominic and his sister Lucy were important early movers and shakers in the Australian environmental movement, well before it became a more trendy subject. He and his wife, Carol, did a great deal of important work together in efforts to raise awareness of the Australian environment, wildlife and the nation’s heritage. Vincent Serventy came from Western Australia. He was born in Western Australia to migrant parents. With Carol and the children, he came to Sydney from Perth in 1965 via an extended trip around Australia making a TV series for Channel 9 called Nature Walkabout. I remember watching this as a young boy and it had a great influence on me. I thought it was a fabulous series and I continue to aspire to do something similar.

Vin Serventy wrote his first book in 1966, A Continent in Danger. I remember reading that book as well. I think it was a very important and influential book at its time. He was involved in significant conservation battles. He was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1976 for his work. He also became one of the founding members of the National Circle, a group of eminent Australians who used their influence quietly behind the scenes to advocate development of the National Museum.

In his 1999 memoirs, An Australian Life, Vin quoted the poetry of Judith Wright, a good friend, who said:

Seventy summers of stories he clutches round his bones.

Seventy summers are hived in him like old honey.

Those are words which Tom Campbell aptly applies to Vin Serventy. His life is a life to be celebrated and admired. It would be a fine thing if there were more people who were prepared to bravely lead from the front, sometimes against impossible odds, as he did. Sadly, the situation for Australian wildlife has deteriorated in the time since Vin Serventy wrote his book in 1966, but there is no doubt that he has had a significant influence on many Australians, that he achieved a great deal during his lifetime and that his life and work ought to be honoured in this place.