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Lilian Medland has not received until now the recognition she deserves as a painter of birds. Due to world events and circumstances, five important books on birds containing her superb illustrations were never published. Despite such major disappointments, she continued to devote her time and talent to painting, first the birds of the British Isles and, later, those of Australia, her adopted country, where she died in 1955. Even now, she is not mentioned in the Australian Dictionary of Biography in her own right, but only in the entry for her husband, ornithologist Tom Iredale.
Seen but Not Heard is the first publication to shine a light on the life and work of this much-overlooked but brilliant Australian natural history artist.
"Seen but Not Heard is the first publication to shine a light on the life and work of this much-overlooked but brilliant Australian natural history artist [...] it is the paintings, as delightful as they are full of personality, of ducks and geese and emus and parrots and kookaburras and cuckoos and owls and wrens and hundreds more which screech and caw and whistle and jostle for space on the page that make this book, if not essential reading, then essential listening.Seen but Not Heard is a tribute to a remarkable woman who triumphed over disability and disappointment. Medland's specific and detailed depictions of birds are a significant contribution to Australian ornithology. They are also beautiful works of art."
