Ethel Sybil Turner

Seven Little Australians Ethel Sybil Turner

Ethel Turner (1872 -1958) was an Australian novelist and children's writer. She started her writing career at eighteen with her sister Lillian, with whom she founded the Parthenon, a journal for young people. Originally published in 1894. Seven Little Australians gives an authentic taste of Australian childhood in the Sydney of the 1890s. Captain Woolcot strains to uphold his standards of decency while his spirited, assertive daughter resists them. The alliances among his children heightens the battle, yet tightens family bonds. The 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