P000708 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Annette Alafaci updated 2025-10-29 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000708b.htm person Perry Nancye Enid Kent AACR2 Kent, Nancye 16 December 1918 26 July 2011 Place of Birth Killara, New South Wales, Australia Place of Death Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Entomologist Artist Nancye Perry, an entomologist, worked at a number of institutes including the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Commonwealth Department of Health Plant Quarantine Division. Prior to her Australian posts, Perry worked in the UK for almost four years with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research's Forest Products Research Laboratory. In 1957 she married and was forced to resign from her Health Department post as at the time married women were not allowed to work for the Australian Government. This is when Perry moved her attention to painting and the arts.

While undertaking a Bachelor of Science Degree at the University of Sydney, World War II broke out so Nancye Perry's studies were interrupted: she deferred her studies for over a year to work at the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) National Standard Laboratory. Perry eventually graduated in 1945, but as opportunities for female entomologists in Australia were very limited she was forced to go abroad. She moved to the UK in 1946 where she worked as a timber entomologist at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research's Forest Products Research Laboratory in Buckinghamshire (1946-1950). Family pressure made Perry return to Australia in August 1950 where she was only able to find temporary appointments. Her first post was with the CSIRO (1950-1951) where she worked on the Sirex woodwasp - a dangerous pest that was being brought to Australia in the cargo holds of foreign ships. Next Perry spent six months at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute where she studied mosquitoes during the Murray Valley Encephalitis outbreak. Once that tenure was completed she joined the Victorian Fisheries and Game Department as a trout biologist (1951-1954). There she was involved in field work and the analysis of trout guts and scales. Finally in December 1954 Perry found permanent employment with the Commonwealth Health Department's Plant Quarantine Division where she was once again employed in the study of Sirex woodwasps. Much of her work was carried out at the Llanherne pine plantation near Hobart, Tasmania.

Nancye Perry's career at the Commonwealth Health Department was short lived as she had to resign in 1957 after marrying. Not wanting to be idle, she engaged in many part-time jobs including demonstrating zoology at the University of Melbourne, carrying out surveys and Census collection. In 1959 Perry became interested, and highly skilled, in dog training and later volunteered for around six years with Guide Dogs Victoria, chiefly in the puppy training scheme. In 1968 she turned her attention to art and took up panting classes. Perry became competent in both oil and watercolours and had her work exhibited on many occasions. She was a member of the Victorian Artist's Society.

Edited from a 2001 biosketch supplied by Nancye Perry

1943 1944 Career position - Laboratory Assistant in the Physics section (optics) of the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) National Standards Laboratory in Sydney 1945 1945 Education - Postgraduate research in agricultural economic entomology, University of Sydney 1945 1945 Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney 1946 1950 Career position - Assistant Experimental Officer, Forest Products Research Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), UK 1950 1951 Career position - Research Officer in the Wood Preservation Section, CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Division of Forest Products in Melbourne c. 1951 c. 1951 Career position - Entomologist, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville, Victoria (six months) c. 1951 1954 Career position - Trout Biologist in the Fisheries and Game Department 1954 1957 Career position - Senior Research Officer in the Plant Quarantine Section of the Commonwealth Department of Health in Canberra 1958 1958 Career position - Demonstrator in Zoology for medical students, University of Melbourne c. 1960 c. 1966 Career position - Volunteer with Guide Dogs Victoria 1968 1968 Education - Enrolled in Max Middleton's oil painting classes c. 1968 1968 Career position - Concentrated on her painting, working with the Heidelberg Art Group and others 2001 2001 Career position - Child of the 'Twenties, Girl of the 'Nineties autobiography published Department of Health, Commonwealth of Australia (1921 - 1987)

Perry worked in the Plant Quarantine Division 1954 - 1957

 The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (1915 - )

Worked at Institute for six months in 1951

 CSIR/O Division of Forest Products (mark I), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (1928 - 1971)

Research Officer in the Wood Preservation Section 1950 - 1951

 Perry, Nancye Enid Kent

Trove

 'Perry, Nancye Enid Kent', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Perry, Nancye Enid Kent Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: The Papers of Nancye Enid Kent Perry (1918-) McCarthy, Gavan The Papers of Nancye Enid Kent Perry (1918-) Melbourne Australian Science Archives Project 1987 Book: Child of the 'Twenties, Girl of the 'Thirties Perry, Nancye Kent Child of the 'Twenties, Girl of the 'Thirties Hartwell, Victoria Sid Harta Publishers 2001 Nancye Kent Perry - Records State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection Nancye Kent Perry - Records MS 13758 Nancye Enid Kent Perry - Records The University of Melbourne Archives Nancye Enid Kent Perry - Records 1933 - 1958 Personal records including biographical material, correspondence, references, and publications 1949-57; school and university notebooks and printed notes 1933-54; professional papers incorporating correspondence, reports, index cards, notes, draft papers, field notebooks, photographs, memoranda, publications and thesis 1949-58 [86 cm]. A detailed guide to these records is available from the Australian Science Archives Project. Also housed under 'Nancye Perry' are materials relating to the Victorian Artists' Society, Malvern Artists' Society, Firbank Old Grammarians Association, Sydney University Women's Union, and the Australian Local Government Women's Association 1947-71; company prospectuses 1958-61; theatre programmes; other material relating to Perry, much of which is duplicated in the above collection has been deposited with the Medical History Unit, University of Melbourne. 1 m Artwork, Objects, Photographs Nancye Enid Kent Perry Nancye Enid Kent Perry

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