Tarlton Rayment

Tarlton Rayment
BornPercy Tarlton Rayment
(1882-11-27)27 November 1882
Carlton Edit this on Wikidata
Died17 June 1964(1964-06-17) (aged 81)
Melbourne Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationArtist, naturalist Edit this on Wikidata

Percy Tarlton Rayment FRZS (27 November 1882 – 17 June 1964) was an Australian artist, author, broadcaster, poet, naturalist, entomologist and beekeeper. He is especially renowned for his extensive pioneering studies of Australia’s native bees.[1][2]

Apart from numerous papers and articles in the entomological literature and in natural history journals and popular magazines including Walkabout,[3] books authored by Rayment include:

  • 1916 - Money in Bees in Australasia. Whitcombe & Tombs: Melbourne. (Handbook to beekeeping).
  • 1933 - The Prince of the Totem. Robertson & Mullens: Melbourne. (Collection of Aboriginal tales and legends for children).
  • 1935 - A Cluster of Bees. Endeavour Press: Sydney. (Major monograph comprising 60 essays on Australian bees).
  • 1937 - The Valley of the Sky. Ivor Nicholson & Watson: London. (Novel).
  • 1945 - Eagles and Earthlings. A metrical tribute to the air crews in the war. Author. (Poetry).
  • 1946 - Profitable Honey Plants of Australasia. Whitcombe & Tombs: Melbourne. (Handbook to beekeeping).
  • 1953 - Bees of the Portland District. Portland Field Naturalists Club.

Although Rayment is currently best remembered as a person who wrote expertly about beekeeping in Australia, he spent a considerable amount of time with the Aruntja people of Central Australia. He had no formal training as an anthropologist, but his wide-ranging intelligence was a good alternative to such training. He was sufficiently accepted by the Aruntja people that, although a white-man, he was regarded as an honorary member of their tribe.[citation needed]

In The Prince of the Totem, Rayment himself drew the striking black-and-white illustrations that vividly depict the characters, and events.

  1. ^ Kenneth L. Walker (1988). "Rayment, Percy Tarlton (1882–1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  2. ^ Young, Lynette (1967). The Melody Lingers On. Biography of Tarlton Rayment. Hawthorn Press: Melbourne.
  3. ^ Holmes, O.B.E.. M.C.., F.R.G.S., Charles (1 November 195). "How Walkabout Began". Walkabout. 25 (11): 9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)