Eric Rolls
Australian farmer and environmentalist (1923–2007)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eric Charles Rolls AM (1923–2007) was an Australian writer.[1]
25 April 1923
Eric Rolls AM | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eric Charles Rolls 25 April 1923 |
| Died | 31 October 2007 (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) |
Life
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]
Work
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.
Publications
(incomplete)
Poetry
Books
- 1981 – A million wild acres : 200 years of man and an Australian forest
- 1984 – The river : a chronicle of life on the land / illustrated by Marianne Yamaguchi.
- 1984 – They all ran wild : the story of pests on the land in Australia (13 editions)
- 1984/1998 – Celebration of the senses
- 1992/1993 – Sojourners : the epic story of China's centuries-old relationship with Australia : flowers and the wide sea
- 1996 – Citizens : flowers and the wide sea : continuing the epic story of China's centuries-old relationship with Australia
- 2002 – Visions of Australia : impressions of the landscape 1642–1910
- 2011 – A million wild acres : 200 years of man and an Australian forest/ foreword by Les Murray
Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture
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]
Honours
- Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 1992[16]
- Centenary Medal, 2001[17]