AustLit

Neville William Cayley (1886-1950) was an ornithological artist and renowned painter of Australian birds. His father, Neville (or Neville H.P. Cayley) was also a painter of birds, but produced works of less technical and more artistic value.

Cayley's early technical work was published in the first edition of The Australian Encyclopedia (1925).

Neville W. Cayley was the chief painter of Australian birds. The first publication was What Bird is That? (1931), in which every Australian bird was illustrated in colour and which ran to many editions. Cayley's other chief works were Finches in Bush and Aviary (1932), Budgerigars in Bush and Aviary (1933), Australian Parrots (1938), and The Fairy Wrens of Australia (1949). In addition, Cayley executed the colour drawings for G. A Waterhouse's What Butterfly is That? (1932) and also the figures in E. Troughton's Furred Animals of Australia (1941).

As a young man N. W. Cayley took a leading part in the founding of the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia. He was long an officer of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union (president 1936-7) and of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (president 1932-3).