Minard

From: Biological Stn. Pearl Beach
Via Woy Woy
NSW
To: Miss M. C. Sadler
"White Lodge"
101 Northcourt Rd.
Abingdon, Berkshire
England
February 9, 1954
My dear Margaret,
I am so often thinking about you in the great cold you are having. I do hope you are well and not feeling it too much. Is there anything I could send you from here to add to your comfort? I wish I could make it a load of the beautiful firewood we have in such abundance...
I am sure you are all excitement - just as I am - about the correspondence to His Grace. I sent you a rough copy of the letter and told you about the photographs and paper clippings included. By airmail I received the following note from the Duke's solicitors:
Mssrs. Taylor & Humbert,
2 Raymond Building, Gray's Inn, London, WC1
20 January 1954.
Dear Sir;
As Solicitor to His Grace the Duke of Bedford, who is at present in South Africa, we have opened your letter addressed to him and it has now been forwarded to him there.
Yours faithfully,
(Undecipherable Signature)

I was at first very perturbed that they had taken the liberty of opening a registered letter - sealed and marked 'Personal', but perhaps even a Duke is not able to receive his personal letters without the attentions of the court! The letter was addressed to M.F.C. Esq., University of Sydney and they re-directed it. I have acknowledged it by same post at this address to me here (as 'Miss') because re-direction causes delay. I do hope and pray the Duke is favourably inclined and not thinking of spending the legacy on lions and elephants instead of our lovely and neglected gentle creatures...

Elizabeth II reads a speech in Sydney, 1954.
Elizabeth II is the only reigning monarch of Australia to have set foot
on Australian soil. She first did so on 3 February 1954.
The whole land is at present seething (yes, that is the word!) with excitement over the arrival of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. They had the most beautiful day for the arrival. Sparkling clear and cool. Oh, how thankful we were! The harbour must have been a magnificent sight, both for the entry and the fireworks at night. I would so love to go down but know I am not able to stand the crowds. I believe more than 2000 people fainted in the street in front of the Town Hall last night. There were about a million there. I will try and obtain papers for you. I do hope the Queen does not grow weary if it grows warmer.
My sprained ankle has been very troublesome - not so much in the daytime but at night and when I am resting - strange, isn't it? I have had a very busy week and a visit from the newly appointed Town Planner for the shire and I like him - a quiet young man who seems to be very interested in my plans for the Botanic Garden.

Minard's bookplate designed by Neave Parker
I thought you might like a couple of my book plates. They were done for me by Neave Parker whom I met in London and like very much. He has now started publishing childrens' books. "The Tall Green House" which I have is delightful, and there is now a second one. With love from Minard

Neave Parker

Bombus, the Bumble-Bee
(Illustrations by Neave Parker...)

The book by Ray Palmer, one of the 'Animals All' series of children's books, was first published in London by T. Nelson & Sons in 1940. A unique archive of charming images of insect and other animal and plant life that features a hedgehog, shrew, field mouse and a swallow catching bees on the wing.
W. Neave Parker (1910 - 1961) worked as a surveyor for a short while before going on to serve in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, working in the Photographic Unit. After making the acquaintance of Maurice Burton, a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum and also honorary science editor at the Illustrated London News, he began to produce animal illustrations. The first of his drawings of prehistoric animals appeared in the Illustrated London News on 30 September 1950. He became an accomplished scientific illustrator and the National History Museum commissioned him to do a series of picture postcards; the museum retains the 19 original drawings for this series. Parker also illustrated numerous children's books. His drawings are held in the Ulster Museum and he was the subject of an exhibition there entitled, ' The Prehistoric World of Neave Parker' in 1993.
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