AustLit

Vincent Serventy received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Australia, then completed a Bachelor of Education at the same institution. He was presented with a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by Macquarie University in 2000. He has been a naturalist, lecturer and film-maker, and has written many books on Australian natural history. He was editor-in-chief of the Australian Wildlife Heritage series of books and edited several natural history magazines (including Wildlife in Australia 1966-82).

Serventy held executive positions in various societies. He received the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1974, and was president of the Western Australian Naturalists' Club from 1946 to 1947, and again in 1951. He was a founder of the Western Australian National Trust, the Western Australian Tree Society and the Western Australian Gould League. His more than seventy books on wildlife, the environment and conservation include The Australian Nature Trail (1965), The Great Barrier Reef (1970), Saving Australia: A Blueprint for Survival (1988) and Your Easy Guide to Green Living (1990).

Serventy made more than fifty documentary films, including the Australian Broadcasting Commission television series Nature Walkabout. His works have played a major role in the development of conservation interest in Australia since the 1960s. His 1966 book A Continent in Danger was the first modern work on conservation in Australia. In 1997 the Council of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia established the Serventy Conservation Award and Medal, named in his honour.