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Valerie May TAYLOR, AM

- marine conservationist, multi-awarded photographer and filmmaker, member of the diving hall-of-fame

 Ronald Josiah TAYLOR, AM, 1934-2012

-marine conservationist, underwater still photographer and cinematographer, underwater sports champion

 

Valerie May Taylor nee Heighes was born in Crown Street Womens’ Hospital Paddington on 9 November 1935, the daughter of Allan Tom Heighes and his wife Edna Elvene. Allan Tom Heighes lived in Marrickville, later in Waverley and became an engineer. On 11 March 1935 he married Edna Elvene Carter. They lived in Waverley, then Maroubra and had two children, Valerie May and Gregory. Allan was an engineer for Exide Batteries so the family moved to Lower Hutt New Zealand in 1939 when the company set up a new factory there. WWII broke out in September 1939 and they were unable to return to Australia until 1949 when they settled in the Sutherland Shire.

In 1948 there had been a polio epidemic in New Zealand. Valerie became ill and was left unable to walk for two years. With the support of the Sister Kenny Treatment and Rehabilitation Method she made a slow but complete recovery. During her illness Valerie had been unable to attend school, fell behind in her studies and so left school at the age of 15. She was a budding artist and began working with the NZ Film Unit, drawing for the animation studio. The following year, on returning to Australia she found work as an illustrator and comic–book artist. Due to Government restrictions American comics had to be re-drawn by local artists before they could be published in Australia.

The Heighes family settled in the Sutherland Shire in a waterfront property on Burraneer Bay. Valerie spent many hours spearfishing and exploring the waters in and around Port Hacking. She taught herself to scuba dive with equipment given to her by a neighbour. Valerie met and married Patrick Parsons, a fellow skindiver. In 1958, they were living at 347 Woolooware Road with the family but the marriage did not last. Valerie joined the St George Spearfishing Club where she met Ron Taylor and competed against him in events. He was the men’s champion and she was the women’s. In 1963 they married at the Hurstville Registry Office with their mothers as witnesses. As a couple, they would achieve world-wide fame.

Ronald Josiah Taylor was born in Kogarah on 8 March 1934, the son of Alfred Josiah Taylor and his wife Gladys Myrtle May. During WWII, Alfred Taylor enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy and Gladys and son Ron lived at Bexley. After leaving school Ron trained as a photo engraver and was employed in a studio in Castlereagh Street Sydney. He soon developed an interest and proficiency in cameras and photography which would lead to his later fame. 

As a teenager Ron spent much time in and around the meshed baths at San Souci. In 1951 he found a lost facemask there. Exploring the underwaters of Botany Bay opened a new world for Ron and so he became “hooked”. By 1953 Ron was a breath-hold skin diver and speargun fisherman. In 1955 he built his first underwater breathing apparatus from parts obtained from WWII army disposals stores. However this device could provide air for a scuba dive of only a very short duration. Once more advanced scuba equipment was available Ron was able to spend much more time exploring the underwater world.

 In 1956 , Ron began to enjoy photographing sealife using a 16mm Bell and Howell movie camera which was on loan to him. He built a perspex underwater housing for it, the first of dozens he would construct for his cameras over the next fifty years. He learned to be very selective in choice of subject and camera technique. He became aware that there was great interest in sharks and began to specialize in photographing them.

In 1956, Ron also became a member of the St George Sea Dragons Spearfishing Club and won four consecutive Australian National spearfishing championships between 1962 and 1965. In 1965 he represented Australia at the world Spearfishing Competition held in Tahiti, French Polynesia and became the World Spearfishing Champion.

In 1960, Ron bought his own Bolex camera, built another housing and began making films for theatrical release. He attended the Heron Island Dive Festival and met the blonde skin diver, Valerie Heighes, who had won the Miss Heron Island competition. He persuaded her to take part in his film and so began a collaboration that would endure for the next fifty-two years. 

In 1962 Ron’s first film ‘Playing With Sharks’ was released in cinemas by Movietone News. This was followed by ‘Shark Hunters’ which sold to Australian and American television. 1963 was the year of Ron and Valerie’s marriage and the Queensland Government Tourist Board commissioned and released his next film ‘Skindiving Paradise.’

In 1965, Ron Taylor became the first man in the world to film a great white shark underwater without the use of an anti-shark cage. The Taylors tried to make a career out of filmmaking and their passion for the sea as they followed the festival circuits around coastal Queensland and New South Wales charging admission to the showings of their films. About this time they became disenchanted with competitive spearfishing and gave up the sport completely.

In 1969 Ron and Valerie were hired by Peter Gimbel, a wealthy American filmmaker, to work on a production ‘Blue Water, White Death’, subtitled ‘The Hunt for the Great White Shark’. It was filmed in the Indian Ocean along the coast of South Africa and also in South Australia. This footage is still regarded as the most memorable shark footage ever seen. It broke all box office records for a documentary film being the second grossing film of the year after only ‘Love Story’. The film was re-mastered and re-released in theatres, also on DVD in 2007. In 1970 and 1971, the Taylors filmed the thirty nine episode television series ‘Barrier Reef’ and in 1973 the documentary series ‘Taylor’s Inner Space’ -- thirteen half hour episodes filmed around Australia.

Ron and Valerie’s films attracted Hollywood attention. They were hired to shoot the live action great white shark sequences for ‘Jaws’. Other film work followed, including all the underwater photographic work for ‘The Blue Lagoon’ as well as pieces for National Geographic and the ‘Wild, Wild, World of Animals’ TV series.

In the 1980s, Ron and Valerie Taylor, through their pioneering work in recording and presenting the underwater world, led public opinion to the then new concept of marine conservation. Educational awareness and Intense lobbying persuaded politicians to introduce legislation to protect and preserve Australia’s unique marine heritage and relationship with the sea.

In the 1980s an 1990s Ron Taylor worked on other Hollywood films including ‘Return to the Blue Lagoon’ and ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’. He continued to make educational awareness features such as ‘Shadow Over the Reef’ in 1993. This film was instrumental in preventing the test drilling for oil inside the Ningalo Marine Park. Documentaries were made about the lives of Ron and Valerie Taylor and their contributions to scuba divine, exploration and conservation of the marine environment.

 Ron Josiah Taylor died at age 78 on 9 September 2012 at his home in Fairlight, with acute myeloid leukemia. He was cremated at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium and was survived by his wife Valerie.

After Ron’s death, Valerie continued her work as a conservationist. In 2014 she campaigned against an Opposition Bill to remove sanctuary zones from marine parks in South Australia. In 2018 she released two books ‘The Undersea Artistry of Valerie Taylor’ and the children’s storybook ‘Melody the Mermaid; Adventures in the Kingdom of the Sea’. In 2019, her autobiography was published. It was written with Ben Mckelvey and titled ‘An Adventurous Life’. Valerie continues to dive but in warmer waters now due to arthritis. She continues to inspire people to become involved in the marine world and its conservation.

Awards, honours and other recognitions:

Ron:

Valerie:

Ron and Valerie:

 

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Colleen Passfield 2020

 

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