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Leslie Gordon Chandler
Leslie Gordon Chandler (1888–1980) was an Australian jeweller, vigneron, bird photographer, writer and speaker on natural history, and ornithologist. He became a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1911 and was Press Correspondent for the RAOU 1914-1916 and again in 1920, war service and disability intervening. From 1920 he was based at Red Cliffs in the Victorian Mallee region. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park there.
Leslie Chandler (always known as 'Les') was born on January 11, 1888, in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern, fourth child of English-born parents Robert Charles Chandler and Ellen, née Mead(e)s, moving with his family to The Basin in the Dandenong Ranges where he was schooled locally. Later attending Bayswater State School, his love of nature was inspired as he walked nearly 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) each day to school through the towering forests of the Dandenong Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne, often making long detours to observe.
Chandler was apprenticed at fifteen years old to a city jeweller and following his greatest interest began to give nature studies presentations in schools from age eighteen. By 1907 he had taken up bird photography, joining the Bird Observers' Club in 1908, of which he was once secretary, the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union in 1911 on which he served as Press Secretary, and the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria in 1914. His experience as an apprentice jeweler enabled his production of hundreds of harmless bands for the Bird Observers Club and Australasian Ornithologists Union to track birds in the first of such projects in Australia; of Short-tailed Shearwaters on Phillip Island and White-faced Storm-Petrels on Mud Islands during 1912–14.
Staying with Charles Thompson, the owner of Kulkyne Station he came to love the Mallee district, where he was later to settle.
Periodicals including The Emu, Walkabout, Riverlander, Wild Life, Wildlife in Australia, Victorian Naturalist, Australasian Photo-Review, The School Magazine, and Victorian School-paper published Chandler's copious writings and pictures, as did newspapers The Age, Australasian, Argus, Leader, and as 'Oriole' he was nature correspondent for the Sunraysia Daily. Whenever he had the time he would spend it in the field, sometimes for several days at a time, to make his observations, employing portable bird hides of hessian, and often climbing high into trees to get his pictures.
His texts are often cited in current ornithological papers, with Woinarski and Recher for example noting the value of his observations, remarking that "Weather conditions following fire also influence bird responses, with Chandler (1973) noting that drought post-fire may accentuate the fire impact. Chandler's observation is astute and it is difficult to separate the effects of drought from that of fire as most wildfires tend to occur during dry periods"
Chandler signed up with the Australian Imperial Force on 8 July 1915, taking his camera with him to the Western Front, despite photography there being banned. Bayonet training at Seymour Army Camp persuaded him that "he couldn't kill anybody, just couldn't face that," as his daughter Mary remembered. He volunteered instead as a stretcher-bearer in the 15th Field Ambulance, in which he served on the Western Front, in Egypt, and Belgium. Despite photography being an activity forbidden to Australian soldiers, Chandler recorded lighter moments, the French people and what was left of the natural landscape and used a bulb release to include himself in the picture.
Gassed at Villers-Bretonneux, France, in April 1918, he was invalided to the United Kingdom where he managed to photograph views of the English countryside. Arriving in Melbourne in January 1919 he was discharged medically unfit on 25 July, too ill to resume his trade as a jeweler. While convalescing he founded and led excursions of the Nature Photographers' Club of Australia in 1919 which contributed and shared their work via a portfolio circulated by mail.
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Leslie Gordon Chandler
Leslie Gordon Chandler (1888–1980) was an Australian jeweller, vigneron, bird photographer, writer and speaker on natural history, and ornithologist. He became a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1911 and was Press Correspondent for the RAOU 1914-1916 and again in 1920, war service and disability intervening. From 1920 he was based at Red Cliffs in the Victorian Mallee region. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park there.
Leslie Chandler (always known as 'Les') was born on January 11, 1888, in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern, fourth child of English-born parents Robert Charles Chandler and Ellen, née Mead(e)s, moving with his family to The Basin in the Dandenong Ranges where he was schooled locally. Later attending Bayswater State School, his love of nature was inspired as he walked nearly 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) each day to school through the towering forests of the Dandenong Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne, often making long detours to observe.
Chandler was apprenticed at fifteen years old to a city jeweller and following his greatest interest began to give nature studies presentations in schools from age eighteen. By 1907 he had taken up bird photography, joining the Bird Observers' Club in 1908, of which he was once secretary, the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union in 1911 on which he served as Press Secretary, and the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria in 1914. His experience as an apprentice jeweler enabled his production of hundreds of harmless bands for the Bird Observers Club and Australasian Ornithologists Union to track birds in the first of such projects in Australia; of Short-tailed Shearwaters on Phillip Island and White-faced Storm-Petrels on Mud Islands during 1912–14.
Staying with Charles Thompson, the owner of Kulkyne Station he came to love the Mallee district, where he was later to settle.
Periodicals including The Emu, Walkabout, Riverlander, Wild Life, Wildlife in Australia, Victorian Naturalist, Australasian Photo-Review, The School Magazine, and Victorian School-paper published Chandler's copious writings and pictures, as did newspapers The Age, Australasian, Argus, Leader, and as 'Oriole' he was nature correspondent for the Sunraysia Daily. Whenever he had the time he would spend it in the field, sometimes for several days at a time, to make his observations, employing portable bird hides of hessian, and often climbing high into trees to get his pictures.
His texts are often cited in current ornithological papers, with Woinarski and Recher for example noting the value of his observations, remarking that "Weather conditions following fire also influence bird responses, with Chandler (1973) noting that drought post-fire may accentuate the fire impact. Chandler's observation is astute and it is difficult to separate the effects of drought from that of fire as most wildfires tend to occur during dry periods"
Chandler signed up with the Australian Imperial Force on 8 July 1915, taking his camera with him to the Western Front, despite photography there being banned. Bayonet training at Seymour Army Camp persuaded him that "he couldn't kill anybody, just couldn't face that," as his daughter Mary remembered. He volunteered instead as a stretcher-bearer in the 15th Field Ambulance, in which he served on the Western Front, in Egypt, and Belgium. Despite photography being an activity forbidden to Australian soldiers, Chandler recorded lighter moments, the French people and what was left of the natural landscape and used a bulb release to include himself in the picture.
Gassed at Villers-Bretonneux, France, in April 1918, he was invalided to the United Kingdom where he managed to photograph views of the English countryside. Arriving in Melbourne in January 1919 he was discharged medically unfit on 25 July, too ill to resume his trade as a jeweler. While convalescing he founded and led excursions of the Nature Photographers' Club of Australia in 1919 which contributed and shared their work via a portfolio circulated by mail.