Densey Clyne

Books authored or co-authored by Clyne include:

For a 1971 feature The Australian Ark, Clyne was asked by producers Robert Raymond and Vincent Serventy to film her garden insects in macro as part of the Shell's Australia documentary series on Australia's natural heritage. Frazier, who was present at the meeting, offered to help; their first attempt at cinematography, based on her research into insect behaviour, was so successful that the team was commissioned to complete one entire programme for the series. This was the start of a 28-year filming partnership between Clyne and Frazier. In 1975, Clyne researched and wrote, and Frazier filmed two documentaries, Aliens Among Us and Garden Jungle, about the insects and spiders in her garden. These were sold first in Australia to the national 0–10 TV network and subsequently to the BBC in Britain and to networks in Germany, Holland, USA (Garden Jungle), Japan and Middle Eastern countries. Awards included the Australian Television Society's Golden Penguin. In the mid-1970s, they produced four 20-minute educational documentary shorts: Come Into My Parlour Said the Spider... (1975), Now You See Me Now You Don't (1977), Blueprint for Survival (1977) and Every Care But No Responsibility (1977). This was followed by Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea in 1978, which was a 10-minute film made for the ABC's Weekend Magazine. The short was researched and scripted by Clyne. In 1979, Clyne and Frazier were chosen as one of ten teams to work on David Attenborough's documentary series Life on Earth. Clyne did the research and wrote the script for their segments. Notably, they were able to capture footage of a kowari giving birth, which had previously never been observed. The same year, they worked with producers Dione Gilmour and Peter Bale to film the BBC/ABC documentary Encounter Underground about bulldog ants. In 1980, they worked on Gippsland (ABC); on Lady of the Spiders (BBC/ABC) in 1981; and on Funnelweb (Forest Homes Films) in 1982. Their partnership with Attenborough continued when they were commissioned by the BBC in 1983 as one of several filming teams to contribute to three BBC television series, The Living Planet, by Sir David Attenborough. They filmed sequences for these series in Borneo, Penang, West Sumatra and California, and were responsible for advising, researching and filming several Australian subjects, notably invertebrate animals. That year, their work was the subject of the ABC film Thrill of the Chase. Kinchega National Park, another ABC production, followed. In 1984, a one-hour BBC documentary about moths, Desire of the Moth, was released; it was conceived and written by Densey Clyne and filmed by Frazier. In 1985, The Sands of Time, a piece on Frazier Island, was produced by Yowie Films, written by Clyne and filmed by Frazier. Later that year was The Nature of Australia, a series of six one-hour documentaries for TV by ABC about the evolution of Australia's fauna. In 1986, Clyne conceived, wrote, and directed To Be a Butterfly, an Oxford Scientific Films/Anglia TV documentary on tropical butterflies. She also participated in Jamie Robertson's Sounds Like Australia, for which she filmed and recorded the sound of wildlife as part of Mantis Wildlife Films. The film won a Golden Tripod Award. She took part in David Attenborough's The Trials of Life (1988-1989) as a consultant and researcher; filming spanned over three years. Frazier and Clyne expanded upon their first documentary, Aliens Among Us, in their 1992 documentary Webs of Intrigue. The film was conceived, researched, written and presented by Clyne and co-produced with National Geographic. It won several cinematography, educational and other awards, including an Emmy in the USA, a Panda at Wildscreen in the UK, and the Japan Wildlife Festival Grand Award in 1995. The Amazing World of Mini Beasts (1997) was another documentary conceived, researched, written and presented by Clyne, in association with Silvergrass Productions.

Densey Clyne was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society of London. For her contributions to arachnology, Clyne had two new species of spider named for her: Austrarchaea clyneae and Ozicrypta clyneae. • Year — Award — Awarding body — For — Ref • 1976 — Hasselblad Masters Award — Hasselblad — Stills photography • 1977 — Individual Achievement Award — TV Society of Australia — Best Documentary Director, Garden Jungle • 1979 — Whitley Award — Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales — Commendation, Garden Jungle • C. J. Dennis Natural History Literature Award — Fellowship of Australian Writers — Garden Jungle • 1982 — Wildlife in the Suburbs • Whitley Award — Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales — Best Children's Series, Nature City • 1993 — Best Children's Series, Small Worlds • Commendation - Best Children's Series, Small Worlds • 1995 — Earthwatch Award — National Geographic Society — Webs of Intrigue • 1996 — Environmental Award — Wilderness Society — Small Worlds • Award for Excellence — Australian Geographic Society • Conservation Award • 1999 — Photographer of the Year • 2010 — Whitley Award — Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales — Best Children's Series, All About Ants and Secret Life of Butterflies