STUDENTS OF NATURE.

Shannon News, 4 January 1927, Page 2

STUDENTS OF NATURE.

AUSTRALIAN SCIENTIST. WHAT AMERICA WANTS TO KNOW. A most interesting visitor to Wellington at the present time is Dr. Brooke Nicolls, an Australian scientist, who has lately been in and who us now oa bis way back to Australia. Dr. Brooke Nicolls is a keen ethnolog.vsf and naturalist, and aso an AbLj ufcer of die camera. 'ln the Califori \v.n universities and schools he lectured for tome months or Australia]} and New Zealand topics, incidentally being able to correct many erroneous opinions that the inhabitants of the United States hold concerning us in this corner of the world. Amongst his many activties Dr. Brooke Nicolls has journeyed into the very heart of the Australian continent, securing a unique series of cinematograph pictures ol the Australian aborigines. He obtained a wonderful series of pictures of these primitive men of the stone age in their natural environment and living as our ancestors lived thousands of years ago. Another unique series of pictures which the ■scientist obtained was on the Great Barrier Reef. Here he studied and photographed the marvellous bird and animal life to be found there. Gigantic turtles, 3001 b. in weight, which were frolicsome youngsters in the days oi Captain Cook, abound in uncounted legions, but the birds easily exceed them in multitude.' On one island ol about 100 acres five million birds were computed to be living. They were in three "layers," the ground being honey-combed by the mutton birds, every square inch of the surface being occupied by various species of gulls, and every available branch or bush being laden with nests. On one spot measuring 25 by 55 yards no fewer than nine eggs per square yard were counted. What Americans Want. It is no wonder then that his pictures excited the keenest interest in America. "The people of the United States," said Dr. Brooke Nicolls to a "Post" representative, "are keenly interested in everything to do with Aus. Iralia.and New Zealand. They do not want to be told in lectures dry facts and statistics; what thp.y want is to hear about the natural history of the country; about moas and Maoris, and strange creatures, like the Australian duck-billed platypus. Statistics they can get from various publications, and the growth of towns and business is not what they consider the really interesting information about a country." The biggest advertisement that New Zealand ever had in the States was undoubtedly the visit of Zane Grey; in fact, said Dr. Brooke Nicolls, New Zealand was now better known to the average American than Australia/ He had nothing but praise for the propaganda work being done by the Publicity Department and for the films which were being sent to the States for exhibition. There were many wrong impressions which could be counteracted by intelligently chosen films. Scare newspaper headlines about farmers being torn to pieces by packs of dingoes or about "wild men" in the forests too often created quite a wrong impression of life in Australia. Pictures in Schools. "The Chinese have a proverb to the effect that one picture is worth ten thousand words," commented Dr. Brooke Nicolls. "This the Americans realise in their educational activities, and the moving-picture is being used as an aid to instruction on a very large scale. Suitable films can be hired by the schools and colleges, the majority of which have their own I theatres. Yale University is engaged in making its own series of historical films; sixteen out of some thirty or forty are now finished." Dr. Brooke Nicolls, after a visit with his wife to the thermal district, and perhaps to some other parts of the Dominion, will return shortly, to Australia. During his train journey through the North Island he,was immensely struck with the fertility of the land, especially in the Manawatu district. "What a picture of green, gold, and white: I saw nothing to equal it in California, which is the garden of the world."