Seven Little Australians
Cover of the 16th edition: 1912 Publisher Ward Lock & Co Illustrations by J. Macfarlane
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| Author | Ethel Turner |
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| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Ward, Lock and Bowden |
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Publication date
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1894 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 240pp |
| ISBN | |
| Followed by | The Family at Misrule |
Seven Little Australians (1894) is a classic Australian children's novel by Ethel Turner. Set mainly in Sydney in the 1880s, it relates the adventures of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their stern army father Captain Woolcot, and flighty stepmother Esther.
Turner wrote the novel in 1893 whilst living at Inglewood in what was then rural Lindfield, (now Woodlands, Killara), having moved there from the city suburb of Paddington in 1891. The suburban bushland surroundings quickly became important in Turner's stories. On her 21st birthday, Ethel wrote in her diary, 'Seven L. Aust. – sketched it out.' (24 January 1893)
In 1994 the novel was the only book by an Australian author to have been continuously in print for 100 years. The book's original handwritten manuscript is held by the State Library of NSW. The full text of the manuscript has been digitized and can be viewed on the Library's website. The original title of the novel, as written by Turner, was 'Seven Pickles'.
The book's protagonists are the seven Woolcot children, from oldest to youngest:
The seven children of the title live in 1880s Sydney with their father, an army Captain who has little understanding of his children, and their 20-year-old stepmother Esther, who can exert little discipline on them. Accordingly, they wreak havoc wherever possible, for example by interrupting their parents while they entertain guests and asking for some of their dinner (implying to the guests that the children's own dinner is inadequate).
After a prank by Judy and Pip embarrasses Captain Woolcot at his military barracks, he orders that ringleader Judy be sent away to boarding school in the Blue Mountains.
Meg comes under the influence of an older girl, Aldith, and tries to improve her appearance according to the fashions of the day. She and Aldith make the acquaintance of two young men, but Meg believes she has fallen in love with the older brother of one, Alan. When Aldith and Meg arrange to meet the young men for a walk, Meg is embarrassed after a note goes astray and Alan comes to the meeting instead and reproaches her for becoming 'spoilt', rather than remaining the sweet young girl she was. Meg returns home and later faints, having tight-laced her waist under pressure from Aldith until it affects her health.
Unhappy at being away from her siblings, Judy runs away from school, returns home, and hides in the barn. Despite her ill-health as a result of walking for several days to get home, the other children conceal her presence from their father, but he discovers her. He plans to send her back to school, but when the doctor reports she has pneumonia and is at risk of tuberculosis, she is allowed to remain at home.
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Wikipedia