David Parer
David Damien Parer ACS is an Australian natural history film maker, working in partnership with his wife and sound recordist, Elizabeth Parer-Cook. Parer was conscripted into the Australian Army to go to the Vietnam War in 1970, but he entered a Masters program to study physics in the Antarctic. Parer spent the summers of 1970 and 1972 in Antarctica studying cosmic rays at Mawson Station.
David Parer
Eva Rinaldi · Flickr: David Parer · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- David Damien Parer
- Born
- 29 July 1945
- Birthplace
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australian
- Occupation
- cinematographer, natural history film maker
- Spouse
- Elizabeth Parer-Cook
- Nationality
- Australia
- Honours
- Officer of the Order of Australia
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
David Damien Parer ACS is an Australian natural history film maker, working in partnership with his wife and sound recordist, Elizabeth Parer-Cook. Parer was conscripted into the Australian Army to go to the Vietnam War in 1970, but he entered a Masters program to study physics in the Antarctic. Parer spent the summers of 1970 and 1972 in Antarctica studying cosmic rays at Mawson Station.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for David Parer. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- unresolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q5238371 · wikipedia · David Parer
In this article
Biography
Biography
While there he filmed his first documentary. David subsequently joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Natural History Unit making wildlife films, where he met his wife and fellow film maker, Elizabeth Parer-Cook, in 1977. After the Natural History Unit closed in 2007, the Parers continued working as a freelance team.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — David Damien Parer • Honorific Suffix — ACS • Birth Name — David Damien Parer • Born — 29 July 1945 • Birthplace — Melbourne, Victoria, Australian • Occupation — cinematographer, natural history film maker • Notable Works — Wolves of the Sea • Spouse — Elizabeth Parer-Cook • Children — 1 (Zoe) • Relatives — Damien Parer (uncle) Amanda Parer (niece) Ray Parer (great uncle)
Family
Family
His uncle was Academy Award-winning war cinematographer, Damien Peter Parer, who filmed Kokoda Front Line in 1944 in Papua New Guinea.
Awards
The Parers' films have won over 130 Australian and international awards including the Golden Panda at Windscreen twice and three Emmy's. He was awarded the Golden Panda from Wildscreen (known as the green Oscars) for: • Wolves of the Sea, Gold Panda for Best Film at Windscreen 1994 • Mysteries of the Ocean Wanderers, Gold Panda Best Cinematography Windscreen 1994 • Dragons of Galapagos, Gold Panda Wildscreen 1998 He has been awarded the AFI award for the best cinematography for a non-feature film four times, for: • Edge of the Cold, 1978 • Bird of the Thunder Woman, 1980 • The Dragons of Galapagos, 1998 • Island of the Vampire Birds, 1999 His other work as a cinematographer and producer includes: • Douglas Mawson: The Survivor, 1983 • The Frozen World, 1984 • Nature of Australia: A Portrait of the Island Continent: A Separate Creation, 1988 • Killer Whales: Wolves of the Sea, 1993 • Platypus: World's Strangest Animal, 2003 • Terrors of Tasmania, 2004 • Australia: Land of Parrots, 2008 • Out of the Ashes, 2011 Many of Parer's documentaries have been narrated by noted naturalist David Attenborough. Parer received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Monash University, Melbourne 17 March 1989. Parer gained "legend status" at St Patrick's College Old Collegians' Association. He attended college there from 1962 to 1964. Parer was inducted into the Australian Cinematographers Society's Hall of Fame in 2008. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2024 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to wildlife cinematography, to literature as an author, and to the environment".
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 September 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,515 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- David OstroskyPerson
- David OtungaPerson
- David OyelowoPerson
- David PaetkauPerson
- David PasquesiPerson
- David PaulsenPerson
- David PaymerPerson
- David PeckinpahPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by David Parer?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.