Olsen, Penelope Diane (1949 - )

Summary

Penny Olsen is recognised world-wide as one of Australia's leading specialists on raptors. Many of her publications deal with their conservation and ecology, and have resulted in a wiser use of pesticides and more efficient disposal of chemical wastes in rural Australia. She is a prolific writer whose book, Australian Birds of Prey, won the 1996 Whitley award for best popular zoological publication.

Details

Chronology

1970 - 1982

Career position - Experimental Officer at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)

1982 - c. 1994

Career position - Honorary Research Associate at CSIRO

1983 - 1987

Career position - Regional Coordinator (Australia and Oceania) of the World Working Group on Birds of Prey for the International Council for Bird Preservation

1984 - 1989

Career position - President, Australasian Raptor Association (ARA)

1988 -

Career position - International Committee Member of the Raptor Research Foundation

1992

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Australian National University

1994 - 1999

Career position - Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellow, Australian National University

1995 -

Career position - Member of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Fauna and Flora Committee

1996

Award - Whitley Award, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

1997

Award - D. L. Serventy Medal, Birds Australia

2019

Award - Fellow, BirdLife Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

• Olsen, Penny, Feather and Brush: Three Centuries of Australian Bird Art (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2001), 240 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, A Brush with Birds: Australian Bird Art from the National Library of Australia (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2008), 124 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Collecting Ladies: Ferdinand von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2012), 248 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Cayley and Son: the Life and Art of Neville Henry Cayley and Neville William Cayley (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2013), 227 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, An eye for nature: the life and art of William T. Cooper (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2014), 288 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Louisa Atkinson's nature notes (Canberra: National Library of Australia in association with State Library of New South Wales, 2015), 108 pp. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Feather and brush: a history of Australian bird art (Clayton, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, 2022), 352 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'D. L. Serventy Medal 1997 citation: Penelope Diane Olsen', Emu, 97 (3) (1997), 262. Details
• Baker, G. Barry; Garnett, Stephen; and Olsen, Penny, 'Fellows of BirdLife Australia: citations [Barry Baker, Mike Bamford and Allan Burbidge]', Emu, 121 (4) (2021), 372-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2021.19935230. Details
• Kennedy, P. L., 'Biography of Dr Penelope (Penny) Diane Olsen AM: renowned ornithologist and author of books on Australian ornithological art and ornithological history', Pacific conservation biology, 8 (2021), 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1071/PC2102 5. Details
• Olsen, Penny, 'Mr Gilbert's Beautiful Parrakeet', National Library of Australia News (2005). http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/131760/20120120-0944/www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2005/mar05/story-1.pdf. Details
• Olsen, Penny, 'D. L. Serventy Medal 2007 citation: Michael F. Clarke', Emu, 107 (4) (2007), 335. https://doi.org/10.1071/MUv107n4_DLS. Details
• Olsen, Penny, 'Nature seems determined to have a bit of a play', National Library Magazine, 2010 (December) (2010), 2-7. Details
• Olsen, Penny, 'Emu - austral ornithology in the era of Twitter: 120 years of regional ornithology and counting', Emu, 121 (4) (2021), 277-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2021.1993526. Details
• Olsen, Penny and Newman, Mike, ' Vale Prof Margaret Cameron AM (1937 - 2023)', Emu: austral ornithology, 123 (4) (2023), 370-1. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2023.2273027. Details
• Olsen, Penny; and Baker, Barry, 'Vale Emeritus Professor Henry Allan Nix AO (8 July 1937 - 2 February 2022)', Emu, 122 (2) (2022), 153-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2022.2071632. Details
• Saunders, Denis A.; Olsen, Penny; and Cunningham, Ross, 'Tribute to Professor Henry Allan Nix AO: pre-eminent biogeographer and ornithologist (8 July 1937 - 2 February 2022)', Pacific conservation biology, 28 (5) (2022), iii-vi. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC2206. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7162564. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/39427314. Details
• 'Olsen, Penelope Diane', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476404. Details

Reviews

• Olsen, Penny, An eye for nature: the life and art of William T. Cooper (2014)
  Clarkson, John, 'More than a portrait painter to the birds: William T. Cooper (1934-2015)', Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, 162/3, (2015), 37-41. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Collecting Ladies: Ferdinand von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists (2012)
  Cohn, Helen M., Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (2), (2013), 343-4, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR13005. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Feather and brush: a history of Australian bird art (2022)
  Hodson, Trevor, Historical Records of Australian Science, 33 (2), (2022), 194-5, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22012. Details
• Book review
  Olsen, Penny, 'David Owen: Thylacine: the Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger (2003)', Historical Records of Australian Science, 15 (1), (2004), 124-125. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR03015. Details
• Meredith, Louisa Anne, My Home in Tasmania: During a Residence of Nine Years (2010)
  Olsen, Penny, Historical Records of Australian Science, 22 (2), (2011), 312-3, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR11013. Details
• Landon, Carolyn, Banksia lady: Celia Rosser, botanical artist (2015)
  Olsen, Penny, Australian Historical Studies, 41 (1), (2016), 171-3. Details
• Olsen, Penny, Feather and Brush: Three Centuries of Australian Bird Art (2000)
  Rowley, Ian, Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (4), (2001), 530-532. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011340521. Details

See also

• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details