- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: AWE0151
Turner, Ethel
- Married name Curlewis, Ethel
Pen name Turner, Ethel
- Born 24 January 1870, Balby, Yorkshire, England
- Died 8 April 1958, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
- Occupation Author
Summary
Ethel Turner’s first book, Seven Little Australians, was published in 1894. Translated into ten languages, it was made into a stage play in 1915 and a film in 1939. In 1953 it was televised in Britain, and in 1973 and 1975 by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Details
Ethel Turner migrated to Australia with her family at the age of eight. While attending Sydney Girl’s High School, she published Parthenon with her sister Lillian. She began writing in 1890. Ethel met Herbert Curlewis in 1891, and the pair were married in 1896 when he was an established barrister and she was already a successful writer of children’s stories. According to Heather Radi in her anthology 200 Australian Women, Turner contributed a ‘Sydney letter’ to the Tasmanian Mail and wrote for the children’s column of the Illustrated news. The Bulletin accepted her first story in 1892 and she published her first book, Seven Little Australians, in 1894. Radi notes that the book was criticised by some for not conforming to nineteenth century conventions in children’s literature, whereby good behaviour is always rewarded, but the book was enormously successful and remains so, with over 40 editions published.
Archival resources
- Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection
- National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
- State Library of Victoria
- Special Collections, Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA
- State Library of New South Wales
Published resources
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Resource
- Ethel Turner, Lilian Turner and Jean Curlewis ; A Family of Australian Authors, http://www.penrithcity.nsw.gov.au/usrpages/collect/ethel.htm
- Dark, Eleanor 1901-1985, National Library of Australia, http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/4998.html
- 'My Oath!' 102 Years of Seven Little Australians, State Library of Victoria, http://www.statelibrary.vic.gov.au/slv/children/seven/
- Trove: Turner, Ethel (-1958), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617272
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Book
- Johns Notable Australians, Johns, Fred, 1905
- The Diaries of Ethel Turner, Poole, Philippa (compiled by), 1979
- Seven Little Australians, Turner, Ethel S. and Johnson, A J (illustrated by), 1894
- The Apple of Happiness, Turner, Ethel, [1911]
- Betty & Co, Turner, Ethel, 1903
- Ethel Turner Birthday Book: A Selection of Passages from the Books of Ethel Turner, Turner, Ethel, L.T.T. (arranged by); with Kernahan, Coulson (foreward by), 1910
- Brigid and the Cub, Turner, Ethel; [Copping, Harold (illustrated by)], 1919
- Captain Cub, Turner, Ethel, [1917?]
- The Cub: Six Months in his Life: A Story in War-Time, Turner, Ethel. And Copping, Harold. (illustrated by), 1915
- The Family at Misrule, Turner, Ethel. with Johnson, A J (illustrations by), 1895
- The Sunshine Family: A Book of Nonsense for girls and Boys, Turner, Ethel and Curlewis, Jean, 1923
- Authors & Illustrators of Australian Children's Books, McVitty, Walter, 1989
- Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, Adelaide, Debra, 1988
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Edited Book
- 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Radi, Heather, 1988, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20071105022623/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/78644/20071105-1315/www.200australianwomen.com/index.html
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Resource Section
- Turner, Ethel Mary (1871-1958), Niall, Brenda, 2006, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120326b.htm