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Gunn, Aeneas (Mrs) (1870-1961)

Also known as
Gunn, Jeannie (1870-1961)
Gunn, Mrs AeneasTaylor, Jeannie
Taylor, Jeannie (1870-1961)
Occupation
autobiographer/memoirist; children's author; schoolteacher
Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-463428

Biographies

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

GUNN, JEANNIE (1870-1961), author, was born on 5 June 1870 at Carlton, Melbourne, fifth child and fourth daughter of Thomas Johnstone Taylor, from Chapelton, Scotland, and his wife Anna, née Lush, from Ilchester, Somerset, England. Jeannie's father and grandfather were ordained Baptist ministers; her father served at Sandhurst (Bendigo) and Melbourne, but later went into business, and for some twelve years before his death in 1909 was on the staff of the Argus.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

Australian Women's Register

Mrs Aeneas Gunn was the author of The Black Princess, published in 1905, and We of the Never Never, published in 1908. During and after World War I she worked tirelessly to support the servicemen of Monbulk, Victoria who she referred to as “my boys.” She was awarded an OBE in 1939, “in recognition of her services to Australian Literature and to the disabled soldiers and their dependents.” In 1948 she began to work on a book recording all the details of the volunteers from Monbulk who had served in the Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion and World War I. Gunn presented her completed manuscript to the Monbulk RSL in 1953 and the book, My Boys - A Book of Remembrance, was published for the first time in 2000.

Mrs Aeneas Gunn was born Jeannie Taylor on 5 June 1870 in Melbourne, Victoria, the second youngest of six children. She was educated privately by her mother and at seventeen matriculated at the University of Melbourne.

In 1888, Gunn opened a private school in their home in Hawthorn with her sisters. Named Rolyat, Taylor backwards, the school was regularly attended by 50 - 60 pupils until it closed in 1896 when one of her sister's married. Gunn then became a visiting teacher and her subjects included gymnastics and elocution.

She married Aeneas James Gunn in 1901. Just before their marriage he had become a partner in Elsey, a cattle station on the Roper River, 483 km south of Darwin, so the newlyweds soon set sail for Port Darwin. While her husband worked as the station manager, Gunn impressed those who said a woman would be out of place on station with her sense of humour and fine horsemanship. She took an interest in the lives of the Aboriginals who lived and drifted through the station, displaying a true sympathy and affection for their way of life.

Unfortunately, outback life lasted only 13 months, Gunn returned to Melbourne after her husband died of malarial dysentery in 1903. Back in Melbourne, she longed for the quiet bush life and found solace travelling with her father to Monbulk, a settlement in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. Encouraged by friends who had read her letters and heard her tell stories to their children, Gunn wrote The Little Black Princess, which was published in Australia and England in 1905, and was about Bett-Bett, an Aboriginal child she had befriended at Elsey. In 1908, her second book We of the Never Never, was published. Although it was entitled a novel, it was a recreation of actual events. The book went on to became an Australian classic, it was used in schools and translated into German.

During World War I and after, Gunn became active in welfare work for soldiers and their families, especially in Monbulk. She virtually adopted all the men who enlisted to serve in the war from Monbulk, referring to them as “my boys.” She sent parcels and letters to them while they were overseas, knitted socks and kept a photo of every single one of her boys on her mantelpiece.

After the war, Gunn worked tirelessly for the welfare of the returned servicemen, becoming an unofficial liaison between them and the Repatriation Department. In 1925 she became patron for the Monbulk diggers T B Sailors and Soldiers Assistance Relief Fund and she did not miss a function in the next 21 years. Gunn helped to organise a clubroom and library for the Monbulk sub branch of the Returned Sailors Soldiers and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia. She received an OBE in 1939, “in recognition of her services to Australian Literature and to disabled soldiers and their dependents.”

In 1948, Gunn embarked on a project to record the efforts and sacrifices of Monbulk during World War I. It was her intention to record the service details of every volunteer from Monbulk who served their country in the Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion and World War I. She said of the book that it was “not an honour roll - it is definitely a record of each man's service to his country.” Gunn presented her completed manuscript to the Monbulk RSL in 1953 and the book, My Boys - A Book of Remembrance, was published for the first time in 2000.

Mrs Aeneas Gunn passed away on 9 June 1961, four days after celebrating her 91st birthday. 200 mourners packed Scots Church in Collins St, Melbourne for her funeral.

View the full record at Australian Women's Register

Related people and organisations

Resources for Mrs Aeneas Gunn

Selected resources (16)

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online

  1. 'Gunn, Jeannie (1870 - 1961)' - Australian Dictionary of Biography
    Sally O'Neill
    [1983]
    Published: Melbourne University Press
    Series: Volume 9
    pp 140-141.

Australian Women's Register

  1. Flynn's Outback Angels: Casting the Mantle - 1901 to World War II
    Rudolph, Ivan
    [2001]
    Published: Central Queensland University Press, Rockhampton
  2. Gunn, Jeannie (1870 - 1961)
    O'Neill, Sally
    [2006]
    Published: Australian National University
  3. We of the Never-Never
    Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs
    [1907]
    Published: Hutchinson, London
  4. The little black princess : a true tale of life in the Never-Never land
    Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs
    [1906]
    Published: Alexander Moring ; Melville and Mullen, London : Melbourne
  5. My boys : a book of remembrance
    Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs
    [2000]
    Published: Monbulk RSL, Monbulk, Vic.
  6. Victoria, the first century : an historical survey
    compiled by the Historical Sub-committee of the Centenary Celebrations Council
    [1934]
    Published: Robertson & Mullens, Melbourne
  7. Who's who in Australia 1950
    Alexander, Joseph A
    [1950]
    Published: The Herald, Melbourne
  8. A History of the Lyceum Club Melbourne
    Gillison, Joan M
    [1975]
    Published: The Lyceum Club, Melbourne
  9. Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs
    Manuscript of We of the Never Never (1908). Personal details and correspondence. Correspondents include letters from - John McLennan, "Sanguine Scot"; Henry V. Packham, "The frizzer"; Mrs. Henry Leahany (sister of William Neaves, who died at Elsey); Thomas A. Pearce, "Mine host"; Mr. C. Price Conigrave; Cheon (Mrs. Gunn's Chinese cook); Jack McLeod, "Quiet stockman"; M. Millar; Sister Elsey King; Constable Reed, Jock McCarthy, "Irish Mac"; H.H. Bryant, "The dandy"; Letters relating to the Cemetery Reserve; appreciative letter from Lord Kintore. Printed sheet of book reviews for The little black princess. Notes on characters, entitled "Details in lives of my bushfolk of We of the Never Never, until June 24th 1937". Details concerning manuscript of We of the Never Never.
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 83
  10. Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs Manuscripts and correspondence
    [1905 - 1937]
    Manuscript of The little black princess (1905) with pencilled corrections by the publishers. Personal data concerning manuscript of The little black princess containing details of publishing the work. Letter by Professor W. Baldwin Spencer to Mr. Slade after reading the manuscript. (MS and typed transcript) Proof copies.
    0.11 m
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 82
  11. Notes and letter on the characters in 'We of the Never Never' [Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs, 1870-1961]
    Letter written by Mrs Jeannie Gunn to Miss Adelaide Miethke, 24 October 1927 discussing what became of 'We of the Never Never' characters. (Typescript copy only). Also includes notes on (and photographs of) the characters in 'We of the Never Never' along with biographical notes on Mrs Gunn.
    0.022 m
    State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana
    D 4470(T)
  12. Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs Correspondence, [manuscript]
    [1937]
    Correspondence with Mr. K. Binns relating to the presentation of Mrs. Gunn's manuscripts to the library, in 1937
    22 pages
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 84
  13. Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs Papers, [manuscript] Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs., Papers, [manuscript]
    [1955]
    Two photographs of Mrs Dolly Benson (Bett-Bett) and her family and a typed copy of an article written by Mrs Gunn which appeared in The Age, 15(?) January 1955.
    0.01 m
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 4908
  14. McCance, Norman Papers, [manuscript]
    [1894 - 1972]
    The papers consist of correspondence with people such as Sir Keith Murdoch, Jeannie Gunn and Sir William Creswell, typed and handwritten autobiographical material, booklets on wrestling, wildlife and Rudyard Kipling, photographs, a copy of Victorian Fistiana, 1860, and newscuttings on wrestling. His articles on wildlife from 30 May 1962 to 27 December 1972 can be found in the The Weekly Times.
    0.09 m
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 3979
  15. Gunn family Papers, [manuscript]
    [1841 - 1912]
    1. Correspondence and papers of Rev. Peter Gunn, 1841-64. 2. Notes on Cambellfield Presbyterian Church, Melbourne, founded 1842. 3. Manuscript of Aeneas Gunn entitled 'The ways of northern waters and many other ways'. 4. Correspondence of Robert Gunn including letters from his brother Aeneas Gunn (1902) and Jeannie Gunn (1903-1912).
    0.04 m
    National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
    MS 9480
  16. Derham, Dorothy Lush
    [1884 - 1924]
    Letters from Enid Derham, most to cousin Dorothy Derham, with one to Mrs. Aeneas Gunn, written while abroad, Jan - Dec. 1914 (15) Letters to Dorothy Derham and her aunt, Miss L.C. Taylor, from Mme Jauffret, Paris, giving with news of her family, occasional coments on in France, and compliments on DD's French. 1919, 1922 and 1924 (4). Photograph of students in Tudor costume with autographs (DD not among them). Matriculation Examination Certificate, Carrie Taylor, Oct. 1885; Miss Rosenhain, B.A. (Melb.), teacher: advt. "Shakespearean Oracle" 1884
    0.02 m
    The University of Melbourne Archives
    93/18

Resources By Mrs Aeneas Gunn (37)

  1. We of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Audio book : 1900-2008]
  2. The little black princess of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book : 1900-1999]
  3. We of the Never-Never Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Sound : 1986-1999]
  4. We of the Never-Never : the Australian classic / Mrs Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Book : 1908-1990]
  5. We of the Never-Never / retold for children by Nance Donkin ; illustrated by Elizabeth Honey
    Donkin, Nance
    [Book : 1983]
  6. We of the Never Never
    [Video : 1975-1988]
  7. We of the Never Never
    [Video : 1980-2004]
  8. Letters : Melbourne, to Mr. and Mrs F.A. Lane
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Unpublished : 1937-1961]
  9. We of the Never-Never ; and, The little black princess / Mrs Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Book : 1982-1994]
  10. We of the Never-Never : together with, The little black princess / [Mrs. Aeneas Gunn]
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Book : 1982]

More...

Resources About Mrs Aeneas Gunn (63)

  1. We of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Audio book : 1900-2008]
  2. The little black princess of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book : 1900-1999]
  3. We of the Never-Never Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Sound : 1986-1999]
  4. We of the Never-Never : the Australian classic / Mrs Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Book : 1908-1990]
  5. The Little missus : Mrs. Aeneas Gunn / by Ira Nesdale
    Nesdale, Iris
    [Book : 1977]
  6. We of the Never-Never / retold for children by Nance Donkin ; illustrated by Elizabeth Honey
    Donkin, Nance
    [Book : 1983]
  7. We of the Never Never
    [Video : 1975-1988]
  8. We of the Never Never
    [Video : 1980-2004]
  9. Letters : Melbourne, to Mr. and Mrs F.A. Lane
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Unpublished : 1937-1961]
  10. We of the Never-Never : together with, The little black princess / [Mrs. Aeneas Gunn]
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Book : 1982]

More...

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  1. Letters : Melbourne, to Mr. and Mrs F.A. Lane
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Unpublished : 1937-1961]
  2. Manuscripts and correspondence of Mrs Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs, 1870-1961
    [Unpublished : 1905-1937]
  3. [Biographical cuttings on Aeneas Gunn]
    [Published : 1900-1990]
  1. We of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Audio book : 1900-2008]
  2. We of the Never-Never Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Sound : 1986-1999]
  3. We of the Never Never
    [Video : 1975-1988]
  1. We of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Audio book : 1900-2008]
  2. The little black princess of the Never-Never / by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book : 1900-1999]
  3. We of the Never-Never Mrs. Aeneas Gunn
    Gunn, Aeneas Mrs., 1870-1961
    [Book, Sound : 1986-1999]
  1. Miethke, Adelaide L.
    educationist; Girl Guides? leader; school inspector; schoolteacher; trade union official; women's activist
    ... characters in 'We of the Never Never' [Gunn, Aeneas, Mrs, 1870-1961] D 4470(T) Letter written by Mrs Jeannie ...
  2. Australian Inland Mission.
    ... Gunn, Jeannie (Mrs Aeneas) (1870 - 1961) ...
  3. Lyceum Club (Melbourne, Vic.).
    ... Gunn, Jeannie (Mrs Aeneas) (1870 - 1961) ...