A Doctor of Dental Science and writer of several works on teeth and dentistry, Brooke Nicholls gave up dentistry to devote his time to natural history. He was a Director of the Melbourne Zoo and a founder of the Gould League of Bird Lovers of Victoria. He trained the kookaburra, Jacko, whose laugh opened the Australian newsreels, Movietone News.
A pioneer cinematic photographer in the Australian outback, Nicholls filmed several aspects of Aboriginal life. His The Living Heart of Australia was shown commercially in 1923, as was his Great Barrier Coral Reef, and he also filmed several Australian animals. He wrote articles for newspapers and magazines including the Melbourne Herald and The Emu, and gave broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in the late 1920s.
