 He was Reader in Zoology at the University of Queensland, retiring in 1997.As a zoologist trained at Victoria University of Wellington (BSc, MSc) and the University of New England in Armidale, Australia (PhD) he is credited for first documenting the endangered New Zealand Greater Short-tailed Bat.He worked on bats in New Zealand from 1959, then in Queensland and Papua New Guinea studying bats, Bower Birds, mammals, and local peoples' taxonomies.