McGregor, Russell (2025) Roger Tory Peterson Down Under: an American's influence on Australian birding field guides. Historical Records of Australian Science, 36 (1). HR24021.

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Abstract

The American, Roger Tory Peterson, has been the single most influential figure in the evolution of birding field guides around the world. He was also a major contributor to the awakening of an environmental consciousness among the wider public in the second half of the twentieth century. In Australia, he provided a powerful impetus to the renovation of the field guide genre from the 1960s onward; and his Australian followers, like Peterson himself, were driven by a conviction that field guides are potent contributors to the conservationist cause. This article explores the myriad ways in which Peterson helped shape Australian birding field guides, including an exposition of his personal friendship with one of Australia’s major field guide authors, Graham Pizzey.

Item ID:	84789
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1448-5508
Keywords:	birdwatching, conservation, field guides, Graham Pizzey, nature, ornithology, Peter Slater, Roger Tory Peterson
Copyright Information:	© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Academy of Science. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0. International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2025 22:59
FoR Codes:	43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430302 Australian history @ 60% 43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430307 Environmental history @ 40%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1307 Understanding past societies > 130703 Understanding Australia’s past @ 100%
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