User:Peter.corke/sandbox

David Corke (born 13 February 1930) is a noted Australian documentary film maker, naturalist and educational author. His films and books have captured many aspects of Australia's unique fauna and environments, and communicated this to generations of students. He filmed first-encounter between Europeans and the aboriginal Pintupi people, and was the first person to film the birth of a red kangaroo.

The strong themes of conservation and the environment over 50 years of film making cover many important issues that are still unresolved in contemporary Australia such water management in the Murray–Darling basin; introduced pests and preemptive burning for bushfire prevention.

Early life
He was born to British parents living and working in British Malaya: his father managed a rubber plantation near Klang and his mother was a government medical officer. He was born in Singapore (then a city within the British Straits Settlements) and attended school in England and Malaya. He was evacuated to Australia in December 1941, shortly after the Japanese Army invaded Malaya. He boarded at Geelong Grammar School and became interested in art and photography, as well as natural history of Australian wildlife, particularly birds and was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union. He studied John Grierson's documentary film ideas, and became a follower of Humphrey Jennings poetic filmmaking style.

Career
In 1948, he joined the staff of a photographic section at University of Melbourne, where he experienced a wide range of photographic techniques that were used in University teaching and research such as camera work, film processing and copying, as well as the production of slides and filmstrips for various university teaching faculties.

In 1952, he began making wildlife and natural history films in his spare time with colleagues Peter Bruce, Graham Pizzey and Gil Brealey. The style of these films was influenced by the work of Arne Sucksdorff and the evocative nature writing of Henry Williamson. For the most part, these films were personally sponsored, but he later received support from the Documentary Film Council of Victoria and the State Film Centre. Films included Raak about Wedge-tailed eagles ; Australian Film Award winning Edge of The Deep about the pattern life along the tidelines; Baama about bird life along the edge of the Murray River; and Sunset Country.

From 1959 to 1970 he worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Film Unit where he made scientific films on diverse subjects including early computing, radio telescopes, birth of the red kangaroo, bushfires, bird banding and skeleton weed. These films were widely distributed through the loan of 16 mm film prints and had significant impact in Australian schools, industry and community groups.

In 1963, he was seconded to the University of Melbourne as director/cameraman for an expedition into the Great Sandy Desert to film to study Aboriginal Australians living in traditional lifestyle. The expedition, led by Dr. Donald Thomson, studied the Pintupi people living in the area around Lake Mackay. The expedition was sponsored by the Royal Geographic Society and the University of Melbourne while film stock and camera equipment was supplied by the BBC. The BBC made a half-hour documentary called People out of time from the footage gathered during this expedition.

In the 1970s he made many films and other AV resources for Educational Media Australia to support the "Web of Life" national biology program for schools – an initiative of John Stewart Turner and the Australian Academy of Science. Films included The Waterhole, an edited, educational version of the award-winning film Late in a Wilderness; Desert Hopping Mouse about the spinifex hopping-mouse (Notomys alexis) of inland Australia; Egg-laying Mammals about Australian monotremes; The Wetlands Problem; Animals of Australia; In Central Australia with Crosbie Morrison; and Yirritidja based on footage taken on the Bindibu expedition.

Corke has made a number of freelance natural history films including the AFI Jedda award-winning film Late in a Wilderness;, Shed Tears for the River;

and Eudyptula minor!.

Corke was commissioned to write several series of books for primary and secondary school history and social studies programs. He has also written extensively about the Burke and Wills expedition including books and journal articles and was the founding president of the Burke and Wills historical society.

Memberships

 * Founding president (2005-8) of the Burke and Wills historical society.
 * Accredited member of the Australian Cinematographers Society.
 * Member (and assistant secretary in 1948/1949) of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (now BirdLife Australia).