The late Susan Hillyard

British national Susan Hillyard was considered an observer and recorder of social history in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi before the discovery of oil, creating a valuable and singular source of information about the nature of social life and civil society in the emirate of Abu Dhabi at that time.

Mrs Hillyard arrived in the United Arab Emirates in 1954 with her husband who was then an oil company executive.

Journaling her day-to-day observations of life over four years, Mrs Hillyard later assembled these reflections into a book, entitled ‘Before the Oil: A Personal Memoir of Abu Dhabi 1954-1958’, published in 2002. ‘Before the Oil’ was a rare and transparent snapshot into the nature and social conditions of life in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi before the discovery of oil, providing the reader with vivid insights and detailed images.

One of Hillyard’s most significant contributions was providing detailed information on the daily activities, from decades earlier, which took place at Qasr Al Hosn fort, the first building in Abu Dhabi and home to the Al Nahyan family. These previously-undocumented facts enabled architects, working on the preservation of the Qasr Al Hosn, to uphold many of its original features.

Susan will always be remembered for capturing a rare photo of the late Sheikha Salama bint Butti Al Qubaisi (mother of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan), which is the only photo documented of her.

Susan Hillyard passed away in 2014 at the age of 87.