Biographical entry Le Souef, William Henry Dudley (1856 - 1923)

Summary

William Henry D. Le Souef was appointed Assistant-Secretary to the Zoological and Acclimatization Society of Victoria in 1874. Between 1880-88 he made collecting trips overseas and in 1902 he succeeded his father A.A.C. Le Soeuf (qv) as Director of the Melbourne Zoological Gardens.

Details

Born Elwood, Victoria, 28 September 1856. Died Melbourne, 6 September 1923. Educated Crediton Grammar School, Devonshire, England. Assistant-secretary, Zoological and Acclimatization Society of Victoria 1874-90, making collecting trips overseas 1880-88; Assistant-director, Melbourne Zoological Gardens 1890-1902, Director 1902-23, replacing bars with high walls and moats, hidden from view by simulated rocks and logs. President, Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union 1907-09. His collection of birds' eggs became part of the H.L. White (q.v.) collection and is now in the National Museum, Melbourne. Collected insects. Austromalaya souefi Distant, 1910, named after him. Nature photographer and lantern lecturer. Wrote Wildlife in Australia (1907), Animals of Australia (1909, with A.H.S. Lucas, q.v.) and Birds of Australia (1911, with A.H.S. Lucas).

Related entries

Archival resources

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• William Henry Dudley Le Souef - Records, 1881 - 1884; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Zoological Parks Board of NSW

• William Henry Dudley Le Souef - Records, 1916 - 1923; Zoological Parks Board of NSW. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Butcher, A. Dunbavin, 'Le Souef, Albert Sherbourne (1877-1951)', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 78-80. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100075b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Le Souëf, W H Dudley', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-515165. Details
• O'Sullivan, Lisa, 'The Le Soeuf Family Tradition', Australasian Science, vol. Winter, 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/journal/as_lesouef.htm. 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