Valerie Taylor – An underwater life Valerie Taylor – An underwater life  

Dive into the remarkable world of an Australian marine pioneer.

Valerie Taylor AM has recorded the marine environment and shared her knowledge with the public for over 60 years, staunchly advocating for better protection of the ocean, its animals and their habitats. Alongside her husband Ron, they made significant contributions to marine conservation, diving and underwater filming.

Celebrated globally, Valerie has become one of the most iconic underwater storytellers, shark researchers and conservationists and paved the way for future generations of divers, filmmakers and environmentalists.

Valerie May Taylor, AM was born in Sydney, Australia on 9 November 1935. When she was 12 years old, she contracted polio. She credits her recovery—and subsequent thirst for adventure—to the stories she read whilst bedridden. Her favourite books were Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

A natural in the water, Valerie soon learned to snorkel and catch fish for her father to eat. Her mother always told her that she could do whatever she put her mind to, so she did. In the early 1960s, Valerie met spearfishing champion and aspiring underwater filmmaker Ron Taylor.  

Ron and Valerie Taylor took the underwater world by storm. Before long they began filming and producing for television, print media and Hollywood. Together, they were pioneers: as divers, creators, communicators and innovators of underwater filming techniques and equipment housings – and as ocean advocates.

Throughout her life, Valerie would follow her own path. In the process she become one of the most visible underwater storytellers, shark whisperers and conservationists in the world. She is an Australian icon. The objects and images in this exhibition share just a few moments from her extraordinary story. We hope it inspires you to be a changemaker in your own way, too. 

Ron and Valerie Taylor dived into underwater photography and filmmaking. They never looked back. In 1963 they made their first underwater film Shark Hunter, which was sold to enthusiastic television networks in Australia and the USA. Not satisfied with available camera housings, Ron built their own, allowing them to take a wider variety of cameras underwater.

The turning point came in 1967 with their participation in the Belgian Scientific Expedition, still the largest scientific expedition ever conducted on the Great Barrier Reef. This six-month filmic and photographic survey encompassed 2,300 kilometres of reef, from its southern end to its northern extremity. The Taylorsquickly gained a reputation for excellence and over 40 years, produced 20 documentaries and shot underwater footage for seven television series and 19 feature films, from Jaws (1975) to The Island of Dr Moreau (1996).

Together, the couple became two of the world’s top ocean chroniclers. Ron was the can-do action man, innovator and filmmaker, while Valerie  was the bold and outspoken photographer and frontwoman. 

Ron and Valerie's cameras in the collection

When Ron and Valerie first started SCUBA diving the sport was its infancy. Their early dives were conducted with whatever gear they could find, borrow, cobble together or invent. Designed to offset natural human buoyancy during a dive, the first Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) wasn’t invented until the 1970s. Valerie says she didn’t wear one until required to by law.

On the flip side, the gear they did buy was quality. Valerie still wears some of her kit from the 1960s. While Ron wore dark wetsuits, Valerie invested in the most colourful wetsuits and sports suits she could find – all the better to be captured on film.

Valerie and Ron Taylor didn’t always have an easy go of it with the scientific community. While Valerie kept detailed diaries of their observations, their work was often derided as too popular and showy.

But science came calling when they needed someone to field-test their most recent theory. From diving gear to spear tips and shark tags, the Taylors gave it a shot and reported whether it worked – or not.

Today, their scientific legacy is more highly regarded. Researchers are now using the Taylors’ footage to show environmental change and species loss over time.

Explore the collection

Valerie and Ron travelled the world to learn all they could about sharks and share their new-found knowledge with the public.

For the Papua New Guinean communities of Tembin, Mesi and Kontu, shark calling is a part of who they are. Sharks carry the spirits of their ancestors. In the 1980s, the Taylors were working on a German production about methods of attracting sharks. To understand traditional shark fishing, they travelled to the island of New Ireland, where after Valerie was ‘made a man’ for the day. She was allowed to witness the ceremonial preparation for what has been called the oldest extent method of shark fishing, observing first-hand how well it worked.

Valerie understood that media is the pathway to action. Through popular media, television, interviews, articles, books, children’s books, art, photography and film, she used every means of communication to increase understanding of the marine world and support action.

Over the years, Valerie and Ron witnessed atrocities, and used their profile to fight back and deliver protection for species and habitats. Valerie says that the most powerful pathway to action is to take the pictures, get your story right and contact the media.  In 2012, the Neptune Islands Group (Ron and Valerie Taylor) Marine Park, off South Australia, was named in their honour, in recognition of their contribution to marine conservation.