Better Born Lucky Than Brilliant: Life of a Country Doctor and Naturalist

David Hollands was born and educated in England, where he trained as a doctor.  ‘David, it’s better to be born lucky than brilliant.’  These were the words of surgeon John Fulford, for whom the author worked in his first year after qualifying.  This is the theme underlying David Hollands’ account of his long and fascinating life.  As a child, he lived through World War 2, when his love of the natural world had already started and was then nurtured by inspiring teachers at boarding school.    He recounts his time at medical school and then as a fledgling doctor and in the British army, tackling problems which would stand him in good stead for the rest of his medical career.

In 1961, with his wife Margaret, also a doctor, he came to Australia and, in 1963, they bought their medical practice in Orbost, Victoria, where they worked for nearly 40 years. During and after this time, his love of nature, photography and birds in particular also went hand in hand with medicine and these passions bore fruit with his first book  Eagles Hawks and Falcons of Australia.  The spark had been lit and this was followed by six more books, some of them involving travel all around the world.

Now 90 years old, he feels that it is time for his story to be told.

List of published books:

Eagles Hawks and Falcons of Australia, 1984
Birds of the Night, 1992  (later expanded and published under the title Owls Frogmouths and Nightjars of Australia,  2008)
Kingfishers and Kookaburras, 1992
Owls – Journeys Around the World , 2004
Waders – The shorebirds of Australia.  (With Clive Minton), 2012
Cranes Herons and Storks of Australia,  2016
David Hollands’ Birds of Prey of Australia,  2021