Author and Drama Critic, was born in Bayswater (Perth), Western Australia on 28 December 1905, the youngest of the six children of John Henry Rees. a Welsh-born school-teacher and his wife Mary Elizabeth née Wilkinson. Known as Leslie, his childhood was marked by poverty and the insecurity occasioned by his father's chronic alcoholism. He was educated at Subiaco Primary School and Perth Modem School, and in 1924 gained a scholarship to the University of Western Australia, where he edited the university magazine: The Black Swan. His fellow students and collaborators included his future wife Coralie Clarke, Paul Hasluck (later Governor General) and the economist H.C. 'Nugget' Coombs. Rees graduated with a B.A. in 1927 and worked briefly for the State Education Department, before joining the West Australian newspaper as a cadet journalist in the port of Fremantle. He also began part-time studies for a Masters thesis dealing with modern drama. In 1929 Rees won a scholarship to study in London and sailed to England on the RMS Oxford. The following year he was joined by his sweetheart Coralie Clarke, the recipient of another scholarship. They travelled together on the Continent and were married in St Pancras Registry Office on 19 September 1931. Rees sent regular contributions to the West Australian from London, but between 1930 and 1935 he was the chief drama critic of The Era and met many prominent writers, including Sean O’Casey, Henry Handel Richardson, Somerset Maugham, A.A. Milne, G. K.. Chesterton, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and C. Day Lewis. In February 1935 he interviewed James Joyce in Paris. Leslie and Coralie Rees departed Britain for Australia on the S. S, Moreton Bay on 26 February 1936 and settled in Sydney. After working for several months as a reviewer of plays, films and exhibitions, for the Sydney Morning Herald. Rees joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission as its first Federal Drama Editor (later Deputy Director of Drama), inviting and developing scripts for radio production until 1966. In 1953 Rees and his wife Coralie published their best-selling travel book Spinifex Walkabout and the following year made a return visit to Britain via the Cocos Islands. Mauritius and southern Africa. Arriving at Plaisance Airport aboard a Qantas Lockheed Constellation on what appears to have been Thursday 10 June 1954, they based themselves at the Park Hotel in Curepipe, then managed by David Russell and his wife Aline (née Hall). On their first day in Mauritius they were introduced by the Qantas representative Noel Rose to the industrialist Pierre Hugnin (q.v.) and with him attended the running of the Mauritius Jockey Club Golden Jubilee Cup at the Champ de Mars. There they were presented to the Governor Sir Robert Scott (q.v.). They visited Port-Louis with Charles Grenville, an English engineer, and then undertook historical research on Matthew Flinders (q.v.) at the archives. This led to a meeting with members of the Société de l'Histoire de l'Ile Maurice. With Noël Regnard. Guy Rouillard and Antoine Chelin, the Rees visited the Flinders memorial on a 'showery Sunday' and were then driven to Mare aux Vacoas. With Jacques Cantin, Peter Murray and other members of the 'Corsair Club', Leslie Rees climbed Le Pouce, but his wife (who would eventually be crippled by ankylosing spondylitis) was unable to complete her ascent. They met many other influential local figures during their brief sojourn. With Rene Maingard. his son Amcdee (qq.v.) the Governor and Lady Scott, they participated in a stag hunt at Yemen. At the home of Raymonde de Kervcrn (q.v.) they attended a cocktail party; Guy Rouillard drove them to 'La Nef’ at Souillac to meet Robert Edward Hart (q.v.); Pierre de Sornay (q.v.) escorted them to Mahebourg and Grand Port; and Denise Hall and Pierre Halais took them once more to Port-Louis and on to Baie du Tombeau. All these encounters were chronicled with lively prose in their co-authored book Westward From Cocos: Indian Ocean Travels, published in 1956. Rees published several books on Australian drama and was the best-selling author of numerous children's books, including the 'Digit Dick' series, and many others with Australian, wildlife themes. In 1966 he was elected president of the Sydney center of International PEN. Leslie Rees was made a Member of the Order of Australia, in 1981, for his services to literature. The following year he published his autobiography Hold Fast to Dreams. Leslie Rees died in Sydney on 17 August 2000, a highly respected member of the Australian literary community. His beloved wife and frequent co-author, Coralie Clark Rees, pre-deceased him on 14 February 1972 as a result of cardio-respiratory failure. They were survived by their two daughters: Dymphna and Megan.
Edward DUYKER---
Bib). :
Oral History Interview (OH402), Battye Library. Perth, Western Australia. Coralie and Leslie Rees. Westward from Cocos: Indian Ocean Travels, Australian
Publishing Company. Sydney, 1956. pp. 66 - 115. Leslie Reece [sic]. 'Rees. Coralie Clarke (1908-1972)'. Australian Dictionary- of Biography,
vol. 16. p. 67.
Information from Guy Rouillard and Mr Y. Chan Kam Lon (National Library of Mauritius).