Published on Monday, 7 September 2026 at 9:00:00 AM

For more than 70 years, Eric McCrum AO has inspired Western Australians to appreciate, understand and protect the natural world.

Teacher, headmaster, naturalist, photographer, author, radio personality and environmental educator, Eric's extraordinary contribution to nature education has touched thousands of lives.

Now 92, Eric has decided it is time to retire but his legacy of conservation and community education continues to grow through the naturalist groups he helped to establish.

For Eric, it all began as a child exploring the bush near his home in Bassendean.

"Luckily for me, the bush was within half a kilometre, so it was easy to walk there and go walking through the bush," he recalled.

Those early adventures sparked a fascination with plants, birds and wildlife that would shape the rest of his life.

A chance friendship with a Noongar teacher during his high school years further deepened his understanding of Western Australia's natural and cultural heritage. Through bushwalks together, Eric learned Aboriginal names for birds, flowers and places, developing a lifelong respect for Noongar knowledge and connection to Country.

After training as a teacher, Eric embarked on a remarkable career that took him from a one-teacher school along the Nullarbor to Papua New Guinea and eventually into environmental education. He spent ten years teaching at Perth Zoo's Education Centre before moving to the Gould League Wildlife Centre at Herdsman Lake, where he introduced more than 7,000 visiting children each year to the wonders of wetlands and wildlife.

His dedication to conservation and environmental education earned him national recognition, including the Order of Australia and the Michael Chin Humanitarian Award.

To many Western Australians, however, Eric is best known as "The Birdman" from ABC Radio.

For years, listeners tuned in with questions about birds, drawing on Eric's encyclopaedic knowledge of native species and their behaviour. His ability to imitate bird calls became legendary.

"That's the way in which you lure the birds up close to you," Eric explained.

"The birds would come right in close to you, and you could get a good look at them."

Photography also became a lifelong passion. After purchasing his first camera as a young teacher, Eric began documenting the natural world through his lens. Decades later, his collection has grown to an astonishing quarter of a million nature slides, capturing everything from native orchids and wildflowers to birds, insects and landscapes.

In 2023, Eric and his daughter Janine published The Nature of the Jarrah Forest, a photographic celebration of one of Western Australia's most distinctive ecosystems.

Eric's connection to the Shire of Mundaring stretches back more than six decades, with his family settling on a bush property in Parkerville before later moving to Sawyers Valley. The opportunity to live among native bushland was a major drawcard.

"When you can look outside and see the trees and the flowers and the birds and the insects and spiders around you, this is the world," he said.

His commitment to educating others about nature has also left a lasting legacy in the Hills. Alongside fellow naturalists, Eric helped establish a local branch of the Naturalists' Club, which continues to attract dozens of members to monthly meetings focused on wildlife, conservation and environmental learning. Today, the group has approximately 110 members, with around 65 to 70 people attending monthly meetings.

Despite decades spent teaching others about nature, Eric believes there is still much to discover.

"People become so involved with the urban situation they are unaware of what's going on around them," he said.

"The trees can have flowers on them with visiting honeyeaters and insects, and they just never see them."

As we celebrate Biodiversity Month, Eric's story is a reminder that protecting nature begins with understanding it. Through a lifetime of teaching, storytelling and sharing his knowledge, he has helped generations of Western Australians develop a deeper appreciation for the rich biodiversity that surrounds us.

And even after many decades of exploring, learning and teaching, Eric's wonder for the natural world remains as strong as ever.

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