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Ethel Turner

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Ethel Turner was a famous writer who created stories for children.

Ethel Turner 1912
Ethel Turner 1912

She was born in Doncaster, England, in 1872. Her life was full of many changes and family members. Her mother, Sarah Jane, eventually moved to Australia with Ethel. They lived in a large house called Woodlands in Lindfield.

Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux
Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux

This house was in the country back then. It was in the place now known as Killara. This is where Ethel wrote her most famous book. She spent much of her later life at a house called Avenel in Mosman.

Ethel wrote many different kinds of books for young readers. Her most famous work was a novel called Seven Little Australians. It was published in 1894 and became a huge hit.

Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux
Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux

The story follows the Woolcot family in the 1880s. There are seven children in the Woolcot family. These children are very mischievous and rebellious. They are also very independent and adventurous. They often find themselves in tricky situations. They usually solve these problems without much help from adults. Ethel wrote more than forty novels in her career.

Ethel's writing career began when she was only eighteen years old. She and her sister Lillian started a journal for young people called the Parthenon.

Ethel Turner 1912
Ethel Turner 1912

She also wrote columns for newspapers using the name "Dame Durden." She wrote about many different things for the Illustrated Sydney News. Later, she wrote for the Australian Town and Country Journal. Her daughter, Jean Curlewis, also became a writer of children's books. Jean wrote titles like The Ship That Never Set Sail. Ethel lived to be 85 years old before she died in 1958.

Many people loved Ethel's stories so much that they were turned into films. A feature film about Seven Little Australians was made in 1939.

Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux
Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux

Later, a television series was made in the United Kingdom in 1953. In 1973, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation made a ten-episode series. Ethel wrote many other books, including sequels like The Family at Misrule. She also wrote a book called Three Little Maids in 1900. That book was based on her own family moving from England to Sydney.

Australia still remembers Ethel Turner as a very important author.

Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux
Ethel Turner-H Cazneaux

There is even a special award called the Ethel Turner Prize. This prize is for young people's literature in New South Wales. You can also find her name on a street in Canberra. Curlewis Crescent is named after her and her husband, Herbert. Even a ferry on the Sydney Ferries network carries her name. These honors show how much people value the stories she shared with the world.

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