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.
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.
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Ethel Turner's year of birth now known to be 1870 not 1872. See From a chair in the sun / A.T. Yarwood.
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. Ethel Turner was educated at Paddington Public School and Sydney Girls High School - she was one of the school's original thirty-seven pupils. She started her writing career at eighteen with her sister Lillian, with whom she founded the Parthenon, a journal for young people. As 'Dame Durden', she wrote childen's columns for the Illustrated Sydney News and later for the Town and Country Journal. In 1891, the family moved to Inglewood (now known as Woodlands), 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. Her best-known work is her first novel, Seven Little Australians (1894), which is widely considered a classic of Australian children's literature and was an instant hit both in Australia and overseas. 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 stepfather, 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. A 10-episode television series was made in 1973 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 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. Turner wrote more than 40 novels. Some were about the mischievous Woolcots. Others were serialized like her books on the Cub and some were stand-alone. The children she wrote about were all adventurous and independent. They frequently got themselves into sticky situations and got themselves out of them with very little to no adult help. 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.
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