Biographical entry Fleay, David Howells (1907 - 1993)

Summary

David Howells Fleay was Director of the Research Reserve, West Burleigh, Queensland from 1952-82 and sometime Honorary Associate of the Queensland Museum. He was the first person to breed platypus in captivity.

Details

Born Ballarat, Victoria, 6 January 1907. Died West Burleigh, Queensland, 7 August 1993. MBE 1960, AM 1980. Educated University of Melbourne (BSc 1931, DipEd.). Education Department of Victoria 1926-34; designer and curator, Australian Section, Melbourne Zoological Gardens 1934-37; director, Sir Colin Mackenzie Sanctuary, Healesville, Victoria 1937-47, later consultant to Committee; established a sanctuary zoo, West Burleigh, near Brisbane 1952-82, when he handed the reserve over to the State National Parks and Wildlife Service. Writer of weekly column in the Courier-Mail (Brisbane) for many years and also wrote a number of books, including We Breed the Platypus (1944). Supplier of taipan and death adder venom to Commonwealth Serum Laboratories 1953-. Australian Natural History Medallion 1941; Fellow, New York Explorers Club 1979; Advance Australia Award 1984; Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow 1984. Founder, Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. The giant frog, Mixophyes fleayi, was named after him.

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Anderson, Fay, 'David Fleay (1907-1993)', Australasian Science, vol. 20, no. 8, 1999, p. 46. Details
• Balmford, Peter, 'Newspapers as a Source of Information about Natural History', Victorian Naturalist, vol. 102, no. 1, 1985, pp. 20-27. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Fleay, David', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-469622. Details

See also

• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2001, 492 pp. Details