Henry Albert Grace aggregated collection of papers

fonds

1954-1966

Objects, Textual Records

9661175

2 metres of textual material (1 box) includes 18 objects

Henry Albert Grace (1885-1966), electrician and bird enthusiast. In 1910, Henry married Deborah Watling Carter, from Norfolk, England and after returning to Australia lived in Willoughby, on Sydney’s north shore. After World War II they moved to Jannali, and with an old police bicycle (given to him by his father in 1896), he regularly took the steam train south from Sydney to the (Royal) National Park, where he was an honorary ranger for twenty-seven years. During his working life he maintained a love for the bush and nature. After retiring, he devoted himself to bird watching or more precisely bird listening, for which purpose he designed his own whistles so that he might 'talk with the birds'.

From his backyard workshop, Grace painstakingly constructed a series of extraordinary instruments, fashioned from old brass tubing, wire and rubber bands. In the National Park he would test the whistles in the wild, using his own birdcall notation (said to be a cross between Morse code and shorthand) to record the songs he heard in reply. He could imitate some sixty native species with his whistles, often with such perfection that he would fool the birds themselves—they would imitate each other. Grace visited the Minimurra falls regularly until his eightieth year, travelling by train to Wollongong then pushing his bike thirty miles (48 km) to the reserve. He died on 4 July 1966 in hospital at Caringbah and was cremated with Anglican rites. His wife, four daughters and one son survived him.
Reference: ADB

COLECTION 01:
Bird whistles, hearing aids, signalling lamps, name badge and instruments for winding tape / made by Henry Grace

COLLECTION 02:
Henry Albert Grace papers, 1959-1964