Author(s): Christobel Mattingley

Nature

Lilian Medland has not received until now the recognition she deserves as a painter of birds. Due to world events and circumstances, five important books on birds containing her superb illustrations were never published. Despite such major disappointments, she continued to devote her time and talent to painting, first the birds of the British Isles and, later, those of Australia, her adopted country, where she died in 1955. Even now, she is not mentioned in the Australian Dictionary of Biography in her own right, but only in the entry for her husband, ornithologist Tom Iredale.

Seen but Not Heard is the first publication to shine a light on the life and work of this much-overlooked but brilliant Australian natural history artist.