Jeanie Gunn

We of the Never-never Jeanie Gunn

Jeannie Gunn was a 20th century Australian teacher and author. After college she and her sisters ran a school. The Little Black Princess: a True Tale of life in the Never-Never Land, published in 1905 chronicled the childhood of an Indigenous Australian named Bett Bett. Gunn's second book, We of the Never-Never (1909), was a recounting of her time in the Northern Territory with only the names of people changed to obscure their identities. Although Gunn never wrote another novel she did write stories about the characters in her first two novels. Gunn was voted the third most popular writer in Australia and was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her writing and advocacy work.