Ethel Turner

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Ethel Turner (24 January 1872 – 8 April 1958) was an Australian novelist and children's writer.

She was born Ethel Mary Burwell in Doncaster in England. Her father died when she was two, leaving her mother Sarah Jane Burwell with two daughters (Ethel and Lillian). A year later, Sarah Jane married Henry Turner, who was twenty years older and had six children of his own. Sarah Jane had another child to her new husband, a daughter named Rose. Henry Turner died suddenly, leaving Sarah Jane with nine children to look after and little income. In 1879, Sarah Jane moved to Australia with Ethel, Lillian and Rose. Within the next year, she married again, to Charles Cope. The following year, 1881, a son Rex was born. Ethel Turner was educated at Paddington Public School and Sydney Girls High School^[1] - she was one of the school's original thirty-seven pupils.

She started her writing career at eighteen with her sister Lillian. In 1891, the family moved to Inglewood (now known as Woodlands[1]), a large house in Lindfield, now Killara, which was then out in the country. Inglewood still stands today in Werona Avenue and is where she wrote Seven Little Australians.

In 1896 Ethel married Herbert Curlewis, a lawyer. After living in Mosman, they built their own house overlooking Middle Harbour. The house, Avenel, is where Ethel Turner spent the rest of her years. She survived her daughter, Jean Curlewis, who died of tuberculosis, by twenty five years. Ethel Turner died aged eighty-eight at Mosman on 8 April 1958.

Her best-known work is her first novel, Seven Little Australians (1894), which is widely considered a classic of Australian children's literature. The book, together with its sequels The Family at Misrule (1895) and "Little Mother Meg" (1902) deal with the lives of the Woolcot family, particularly with its seven mischievous and rebellious children, in 1880s Australia. A companion to "Seven Little Australians", "Judy and Punch" was published in 1928. Like her step-father, the character of Captain Woolcot was a widower with six children. The book was made into a feature film in Australia in 1939 and a UK television series in 1953. The definitive 10-episode television series was made in 1973. [2]

Turner published a number of other books for children, short stories and poems. "Three Little Maids" (1900) is a strongly autobiographical novel about her family's migration from England to Sydney, Australia.

Ethel Turner was awarded a number of prestigious literary awards and can easily be classed as one of Australia's best-loved authors. The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature is given annually under the auspices of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[3].

[edit] Works

• Seven Little Australians (1894)
• Family at Misrule (1895)
• Story of a Baby (1895)
• Little Larrikin (1896)
• Miss Bobbie (1897)
• Camp at Wandining (1898)
• Gum Leaves (1900)
• Three Little Maids (1900)
• Wonder Child (1901)
• Little Mother Meg (1902)
• Betty & Co (1903)
• Mothers Little Girl (1904)
• White Roofed Tree (1905)
• In the Mist of the Mountains (1906)
• Stolen Voyage (1907)
• Happy Hearts (1908)
• That Girl (1908)
• Birthday Book (1909)
• Fugitives from Fortune (1909)
• Fair Innes (1910)
• Raft in the Bush (1910)
• An Orge up to Date (1911)
• Apple of Happiness (1911)
• Fifteen & Fair (1911)
• Ports & Happy Havens (1911)
• Tiny House (1911)
• Secret of the Sea (1913)
• Flower O' the Pine (1914)
• The Cub (1915)
• John of Daunt (1916)
• Captain Cub (1917)
• St Tom & The Dragon (1918)
• Brigid & the Cub (1919)
• Laughing Water (1920)
• King Anne (1921)
• Jennifer J (1922)
• Sunshine Family (1923) (with Jean Curlewis her daughter)
• Nicola Silver (1924)
• Ungardeners (1925)
• Funny (1926)
• Judy & Punch (1928)

[edit] References