A NATURE CONSERVATIONIST LOOKS BACK (Inscribed and Signed 1st Edition)

280pp. Varnished board cover. Illustrated in BW. Inscribed and signed on front free EP and signed again on title page by Douglas Hey.

Douglas Hey was the first Director of the Department of Nature Conservation of the Cape Province, 1952 - 1979. Author of publications on Nature Conservation. Nature Conservation in South Africa owes much to his drive and enthusiasm.

Douglas Hey was born on 23 November 1914 in East London and grew up in the Eastern Cape. His father was Sydney Hey, a postmaster and author of the now classic book, The Rapture of the River. After matriculating from Maclear High School he studied Zoology and Chemistry at Rhodes University (BSc) and Stellenbosch University (MSc and D Sc, both cum laude, 1942). He taught for a year at Lovedale College in the Eastern Cape and then worked as a researcher at the Jonkershoek Hatchery in Stellenbosch and at Leuven University in Belgium.1942: Director of Inland Fisheries1949: Diplomas in Limnology, Hydrobiology and Pisciculture from the University of Louvain, Belgium.1952: Director of Nature Conservation of the Cape Province1959: Study Tour of the United States on an American Leader Exchange bursary1970: Visiting Professor to Colorado State University1972: planned and helped install a degree course in Nature Conservation at the Department of Forestry, Stellenbosch University, where he lectured.1974: Visiting Professor to Utah State UniversityDouglas Hey retired as Director of Nature Conservation of the Cape Province in November 1979. He was a fellow and the treasurer of the Royal Society of South Africa, an active member of the Council of the Zoological Society and served on the Boards of Trustees of a number of organizations, among them the South African Museum and the National Botanic Gardens.Douglas Hey died on 18 March 2008.'My father's early love of nature arose from a childhood spent in the small towns of the Eastern Cape, where my Grandfather, Sydney Hey, a postmaster in his professional life, spent his free time angling in the rivers and fresh-water streams, and gathering material for his now classic work, The Rapture of the River. After completing his zoological studies and research at Rhodes and Stellenbosch Universities, my father started his career in Inland Fisheries in the beautiful Jonkershoek Valley near Stellenbosch, also spending time studying limnology in Belgium and the fisheries projects in the Belgian Congo. In 1952, the new Department of Nature Conservation of the Cape Province was founded, with my father as first Director. A position which he held until his retirement in November 1979. This was followed by a brief period as head of the National Monuments Council. During these years, in which numerous nature reserves and natural areas were proclaimed throughout the Province, my father paid particular attention to public education, with his attractive pocket-sized field guides on protected Fauna and Flora. We should briefly try to recall the size of the Cape Province at the time, stretching to Kokstad, Matatiele and Swartberg in the East, and to the banks of the Orange River in the North. My father's regular tours of inspection thus entailed a huge amount of driving over his 28 years as Director. Some may still recall his popular radio programme Talking of Nature, shared with a team of naturalists which included Dr. Geoff McLachlan and the late Professor Gerrie Broekhuizen of UCT, his regular column entitled Bewonder en Bewaar in Die Burger, and his many popular books on nature, produced in both English and Afrikaans, including Wildlife Heritage (Natuurerfenis), and Water, Source of Life (Water Betower My), to name just two - books in which my late Mother, who was far more punctilious in matters of grammar and syntax, played an important role. I should mention that Mrs. Eileen Kent, who is present with us to-day, rendered my father invaluable editorial assistance with Water, Source of Life. Included in his brief of Nature Conservation was museum services, where he introduced the sensible recommendation that each museum, rather than attempt to build general collections, should aim to represent aspects unique to the particular area in which it is situated. Thus we have, for example, the 1820 Settlers' Museum in Grahamstown, the Shipwreck Museum in Bredasdorp, the Museum of Farming Implements and Equipment at Albany.My father's gifts in this area were, however, not those of the historian but of an efficient and imaginative organiser, a builder of successful teams and scientific collaboration. In the course of his work, friendships arose with a number of remarkable people, such as the naturalist Dr. S. H. Skaife of Hout Bay and, at the East London Museum, Dr. Marge Courtenay-Latimer, the discoverer of that lost species of primaeval fish, the caelacanth [She is a leading personality in a wonderful book, by the way, A Fish Caught in Time].I should also mention here his services to the international cause of Nature Conservation through a long association with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), whose foundation came about in part through the efforts of the late Dr. Anton Rupert. My father's work was well recognised through the receipt of numerous medals and awards, both from this country and from overseas, which included the Cape Tercentenary Foundation medal, the freedom of the City of Cape Town, and the State President's Award for Meritorious Service. I shall not attempt a list of these here, but rather mention that he considered these as awards, not so much to himself alone, but to the teams of enthusiastic co-workers and colleagues which he had built up throughout the years. Towards the end of his official career in Nature Conservation, he was particularly proud of the service which he was able to render to this city through the Table Mountain Commission of 1978, and its report of recommendations for the preservation of the entire Table Mountain chain right down to Cape Point.'From the valedictory address by John Douglas Hey, 26 March 2008