Hesba Fay Brinsmead
| H. F. Brimsmead | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hesba Fay Hungerford 15 March 1922 Berambing, New South Wales |
| Died | 24 November 2003 (aged 81) Murwillumbah, New South Wales |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Notable works | Pastures of the Blue Crane |
| Notable awards | Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers 1965 |
| Years active | 1961-1994 |
Hesba Fay Brinsmead (Hesba Fay Hungerford; 15 March 1922 in Berambing, New South Wales – 24 November 2003 in Murwillumbah) was an Australian author of children's books and an environmentalist.
Brinsmead's parents, Edward Kenelm Guy Hungerford and May Lambert, were missionaries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church who left Sydney for Java (Indonesia) 1909 to 1912. On their return her father and his brothers built homes in the isolated area of the Blue Mountains where Brinsmead was born. Ken and May took their three small children, one of whom was seriously ill, with them. They farmed in this beautiful place while the children grew up. Brinsmead was the youngest and, for several years, was the only child at home as her siblings were at school in town.
Brinsmead was determined to be a writer from an early age but had very little formal education due to her home's remote location. Her mother gave her much of her early education at home around their kitchen table. After completing some primary schooling by correspondence she attended a small church high school at Wahroonga, Sydney. Eventually she left home in her mid-teens and became a teacher. She taught in various places around Australia, at a one-teacher school, as a governess in the far west of NSW and in the Derwent Valley of Tasmania. She undertook a correspondence course in journalism whilst in her thirties. She had married Reg Brinsmead when 20 years of age and had two sons. Her husband owned and managed a pest control business active in three states. Finding time to write or study was a struggle for Brinsmead as she was always kept busy with clerical tasks and arranging employees' food and accommodation needs. She managed to escape in various ways to find a place to write undisturbed; to a caravan in the back yard or to coffee shops.
Whilst living in Melbourne, the ANZ bank near her home in the suburb of Nunawading allowed her to use a spare room on their premises. During her life she resided for varying lengths of time in North Queensland, Melbourne, Tasmania, the West Australian outback, and in northern New South Wales. These places are all featured strongly in her novels.
Her novels, taken from her experiences and travels around Australia, were written for children and young adults; however, they expressed many themes that have gained more prominence in today's world – such as the fragility and beauty of the environment and indigenous areas and the need for their conservation, the effect of ecological damage, the plight of refugees and societies disaffected and the human cost of resource development. As examples, Echo in the Wilderness, set on Lake Pedder on the eve of its destruction, chronicles the submergence and obliteration of the lake. Her 1983 book, I Will Not Say the Day Is Done (her only non-fiction/adult book) brought to life the struggle to save Lake Pedder. She was passionately consumed by the need to do something about environmental vandalism in Tasmania. Her book Isle of the Sea Horse, released in 1969, grew out of her concern about the ecological devastation to the Great Barrier Reef and, among other concerns, the plight of refugees. Her Longtime trilogy was set in, and inspired by her upbringing in, the Blue Mountains.
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