He is an icon of The Canberra Times - drawing cartoons for the newspaper for 30 years until his retirement in 2008.

Keen to see his cartoons preserved, Pryor donated 5000 of the originals to the National Library of Australia.

Each of the original drawings is now in the library - that storehouse of national identity - and digitised for anyone to access, through Trove.

"Some of the originals I gave away and some went to charity auctions, but the majority are there," he said.

But that's not where it ends.

Pryor volunteered one day a week for the past seven years cataloguing each and every cartoon, providing a sentence or two of background and explanation, to go with the digital entry.

This week, he catalogued his final cartoon, ensuring the collection remain for generations to come to appreciate.

"The idea is people will get in touch with me if they want to use the cartoon, as I still own the copyright. And, nearly always, I say, 'yes'," he said.

The library regarded it as a very generous gesture.

Pryor is, as ever, keen to shrug off any praise and remains the most ardent critic of his work, as he looked back over the decades of cartoons.

"Some of it was pretty raw," he said.

"Some of it, for the life of me, I couldn't think why I'd drawn it. Some of them I thought, 'Right, I nailed that'. It was a mixed bag."

The now 72-year-old certainly won't accept any suggestion he is a living treasure.

"I think that's stretching things a bit rather," he said.

Pryor is still in Canberra, still drawing and enjoying a retired life of movies, relaxation and grandchildren.

"I've got plenty to do," he said.