Ethel Turner was an author and poet, especially known as a writer of novels for children and young adults. Her most famous book is undoubtedly Seven Little Australians (1894).
Ethel was born in Balby (Yorkshire, England), on 24 January 1870. She was the second child of Bennett George Burwell, who was a commercial traveller (salesman), and Sarah Jane Burwell (née Shaw). Unfortunately, her father died when she was a small child. Her mother went on to marry Henry Turner, on 21 August 1872, making her part of a larger family (Henry had six sons from a previous marriage). Ethel was then given the surname of Turner (which she kept, and used in her writing career). However, her stepfather died six years later, in August 1878.
Sarah Jane Turner migrated to Australia in 1879, along with her daughters Ethel, Lilian, and Rose (known as Rosie); Ethel was nine years old when she arrived in Australia. Not long after arriving in New South Wales, Sarah Jane married again, in 1880, this time to Charles Cope, a public servant in the Lands Department.[1]
Ethel attended the Superior Public school in Paddington (Sydney), and subsequently went to Sydney Girls’ High School, for which she won a scholarship. Her sister Lilian went to the same high school, where the two of them produced a schoolgirls’ magazine, called Iris. In January 1889, after Ethel finished school, she and her sister founded a new magazine, named The Parthenon. The publication was aimed at women, young adults, and children, and was in operation from 1 January 1889 to 4 April 1892. The magazine advocated that females should pursue their “desire for knowledge”, even into those realms that were in those days normally only studied by men (“woman goes into the mazy labyrinth, untrodden before by any but men’s footsteps”); this advocacy has been cited as an early type of feminism.[2]
The sisters’ publishing adventure ran into some legal trouble, which they survived due to a technicality of publishing responsibility. In 1890 Gordon and Gotch, named as the nominal publishers of the magazine, were sued in the District Court for libel by an irate father, who believed that his 12-year-old daughter had been defamed by an article in The Parthenon which implied that she had cheated in a literary competition. The father won the trial; however, as the case was a matter of principle, he didn’t ask for punitive damages, but was awarded costs. The sisters’ paper kept on going, lasting for about three years (in its final year, they were helped by Louise Mack, who had gone to the same high school, and was later to write a number of books). According to Ethel, the magazine “died for want of funds”.[3]
Ethel became the editor of “The Children’s Corner” of The Illustrated Sydney News; then, when that paper closed (the last issue being 10 February 1894), she went on to write for The Australian Town and Country Journal, from March 1894 to December 1907 (she was the editor of the “Children’s Corner” for that paper too).
As well as writing under her own name, Ethel Turner used the pen-names E.S.T., Dame Durden, and Princess Ida. Although born as Ethel Mary Turner, she styled herself as Ethel Sibyl Turner (a usage dating from at least her high school days), hence “E.S.T.” was used as an alias. Dame Durden is a traditional English song about a woman in charge of a house and servants, and was therefore sometimes used as a nickname to refer to a housewife; Charles Dickens used it as a nickname for a housewife in his book Bleak House (using extracts from the book by Dickens, an adaptation for children was released in the USA in the 1850s, entitled Dame Durden: Little Woman; it was also published with other stories by Dickens). Princess Ida is a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan (based upon a narrative poem by Tennyson) about a princess who wants to be free from the dominion of men; so, Ethel Turner may have used this as an indicator of her feminist viewpoint. For her “Children’s Corner” page, she used a number of pseudonyms for her “Court of Entertainers”, comprising King Highandmighty, Queen Youngheart, Prince Hal, Princess Spinaway, Washington, The Little Laureate, Captain Cook, Professor Wideawake, Mistress Homely, Dame Durden, The Court Jester, The Blackboy, Aesop Junior, Edison Junior, Macaulay Junior, The Court Doctor (also, The Corner Doctor), Miss Lobelia, and The Old Sailor (the list of those belonging to the “Court” varied over time).[4]
In July 1894 her play “The Wig” was staged at the Royal Standard Theatre in Sydney, in a double bill, along with a play written by Louise Mack and W. D. M’Intyre. Both of the plays were written for, and produced by, the University Dramatic Society. Unfortunately, the newspaper reviews of “The Wig” were middling to scathing. Perhaps the best review was from the The Daily Telegraph, which said that “It would be flattery for which the authors would not be thankful to say that either the farce or the comedy was very original in design or quite perfect in construction, but both “played well,” and the dialogue in each case was bright and sparkling, and on occasions rose quite to the level of the productions of some of our most popular playwrights.” However, other newspapers were less kind: The Australian Star declared that “The essential quality of humor was at no time in evidence, and the violent efforts of the amateurs to invest the performance with anything approaching to interest resulted in absolute failure”, the Evening News said “Some of it was very sorry stuff indeed, and there was a lack of spontaneity about the whole that convinced one that after all it is no easy matter to be nonsensical and at the same time amusing”, whilst The Sydney Morning Herald opined that it “the situations, if they were anything, were sentimental, and the dialogue was without humour. The young author had not tried to be funny, and succeeded very well. … A sketch of this sort depends, of course, wholly upon the wit and drollery of the dialogue — qualities in the present instance conspicuous by their absence.” Nonetheless, Ethel loved play-writing, and many years later she said “I wanted to write plays much more than children’s books.”[5]
For some years, from her days at the The Parthenon onwards, Ethel had been working on a novel for children, writing at the family home in Killara (NSW). Along with a letter of introduction from Walter Jeffrey, a fellow writer, she posted her manuscript to William Steele, who was the Australian representative of an English publishing company, Ward, Lock & Bowden. Steele thought the book was great, as did his English counterparts. The book Seven Little Australians was published in October 1894. The publication of the book was delayed for a while, so as to enable the simultaneous release of an American edition (due to some technicalities of American copyright legislation). In the meantime, the first part of the book was printed as a serial story in the monthly women’s magazine Sylvia’s Journal (London), with the first installment appearing in the July 1894 issue (December 1894 was the last issue of the magazine). The first edition of Seven Little Australians was illustrated by Alfred J. Johnson, said to be one of the best artists in the field of children’s books (although his small pictures were later replaced by full-page illustrations drawn by J. Macfarlane, another English artist). Sales of the book were phenomenal, as the story struck a note with readers everywhere.[6]
Ethel Turner married Herbert Curlewis (who had been a contributor to The Parthenon) on 22 April 1896, following a five-year engagement. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend R. Raymond King at St John’s Anglican Church, Gordon (located north-west of Sydney and south-east of Hornsby). The wedding reception was held at the family’s home, “Bukyangi” (in Killara, just south of Gordon), which was then a spacious property, with its own orchard. Within five years, both of her sisters were married as well; Lilian in 1898 and Rosie in 1901.[7]
The marriage of Ethel and Herbert produced two children: Ethel Jean Sophia Curlewis, known as Jean (born 7 February 1898), and Adrian Herbert Frederic Curlewis (born 13 January 1901). The family home, known as “Avenel”, was built in Mosman (NSW), and it was there that Ethel Curlewis (née Turner) was to do most of her writing from then on.[8]
Her husband Herbert Curlewis was a barrister, having been admitted to the bar in 1893 (he became a judge in 1917), thus giving the family a decent income, so it is likely that Ethel had the option to leave work and become a housewife. Indeed, there were some concerns amongst the reading public that Ethel would retire from writing and settle down to domestic life, thus depriving the nation, and the world, of her literary talents. However, those worries were unfounded, as she continued to write books.[9]
During the First World War (1914-1918) Ethel Turner showed that she was a staunch patriot; she worked hard on patriotic campaigns, including advocacy for conscription, Australian intake of European war orphans, and raising funds for soldiers’ homes. In 1915 she wrote a song to raise money for the Red Cross, and did other fundraising work. Ethel also called for the early closing of hotels and “sobriety in wartime” (1915), as well as giving support to the wartime referendum for the 6 o’clock closing of pubs (1916). Her “Cub” books, written during the war, had a patriotic flavour, along with an anti-German tint; the trilogy comprised of The Cub (1915), Captain Cub (1917), and Brigid and the Cub (1919). In order to raise money for returned soldiers, she co-edited (with Bertram Stevens) The Australian Soldiers’ Gift Book (1918).[10]
She continued to keep her hand in the newspaper trade, and edited the children’s page (“Sunbeams”) in the Sunday Sun from 1921 to 1931.[11]
Artistic talent ran deep in Ethel’s family. Her mother Sarah Jane was a painter and wood carver, her older sister Lilian was a writer (who wrote several novels, although she wasn’t as successful as Ethel), her daughter Jean was an author and poet (with several published novels), and her nephew Lindsay (Lilian’s son) was also a writer. However, her son Adrian seems to have followed in her husband’s footsteps, becoming a lawyer, and then a judge (along with being a general staff officer in the Australian army during World War Two; he was later given a knighthood).[12]
However, tragedy struck when her daughter caught tuberculosis. After a long struggle with the illness, Jean died on 28 March 1930.[13]
Ethel’s husband, Herbert Curlewis, passed away on 11 October 1942, after being ill for three years (since his retirement in 1939). It was a hard time for Ethel. The Second World War (1939-1945) was in full swing, and her son, Adrian Curlewis, had gone off to fight the Japanese (who had entered the war in December 1941), and was, at the time of Herbert’s death, reported as “missing in Malaya” (he had become a prisoner of war, at the hands of the Japanese).[14]
At the age of 88, after having lived a long and fulfilling life, Ethel Turner died in Mosman (Sydney, NSW), on 8 April 1958.[15]
Although she produced a large number of books and poems during her lifetime, it is Seven Little Australians for which she will be primarily remembered. Her classic children’s novel stands high as a worldwide hit, being translated into at least a dozen languages, in addition to being made into a stage play (first in 1914, then in several other theatre productions), a movie (1939), a BBC TV mini-series (1953), an ABC TV mini-series (1973), and a musical (1988).[16]
The greatest monument to the memory of Ethel Turner will always be Seven Little Australians; the novel’s popularity is well-deserved, and its impact upon the Australian literary scene ensures that its writer will always have a place in the cast of great Australian authors.
Works by Ethel Turner:
Works of Ethel Turner
Articles about Ethel Turner:
[A review of “Seven Little Australians” by Ethel Turner] [20 October 1894]
A review of Seven Little Australians, published in The Bulletin.
An Australian authoress [25 March 1899]
An article about Ethel Turner, published in The Bookfellow.
References:
General reference:
Brenda Niall, “Turner, Ethel Mary (1870–1958)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
[1] “Obituary: Mrs. Charles Cope”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 26 October 1923, p. 8 (late edition) [obituary for Ethel Turner’s mother, migrated to Australia with her three daughters]
“Family history research guide”, NSW Government
“Births, Deaths and Marriages search”, NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages [the online database has a listing for the marriage of Charles Cope to Sarah J. Turner, registration number 1578/1880]
[2] “Opening of the Sydney Public High Schools”, The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (Maitland, NSW), 11 October 1883, p. 6 [“scholarships … Ethel Turner, age 12, Superior Public school, Paddington”]
“The Parthenon”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 12 January 1889, p. 11 [“a new magazine for women and children”]
“Ethel Turner, Tales from the “Parthenon” (review)”, Whispering Gums, 21 November 2014 [re. Ethel Turner as an early feminist]
[3] “Another libel action: The little girl and the “Parthenon”: Answering a puzzle”, Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 25 January 1890, p. 6
“Extraordinary libel case. Action Against the “Parthenon”: A child plaintiff”, The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW), 25 January 1890, p. 3
“Ethel Turner at home”, The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 14 May 1898, p. 943 [The Parthenon “died for want of funds”]
[4] “Ethel Turner”, AustLit [list of pseudonyms]
“Junior public examination”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 2 December 1886, p. 6 [“Turner, Ethel Sibyl, Girls’ Public High School, Sydney”]
“Senior public examinations”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 2 October 1888, p. 6 [“Turner, Ethel Sibyl, Girls’ Public High School, Sydney”]
“Dame Durden”, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
“Dame Durden, and Tom Bolin”, Internet Archive (undated broadsheet, possibly 18th or 19th century)
“Little Woman from the Bleak House of Charles Dickens, Dame Durden”, Bleak History: 1853 Archive
Dame Durden: Little Woman: From the Bleak House of Charles Dickens, Yale University Library (digital copy of an undated edition, possibly 1855 or 1856)
“Dame Durden :; (The Two Daughters) Little Woman from the Bleak house of Charles Dickens. : Illustrated by Darley” (bookseller listing), AbeBooks.com
“Dame Durden”, Oxford Reference
“The Parthenon”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 12 January 1889, p. 11 [Princess Ida]
“Princess Ida”, The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company
“Princess Ida or Castle Adamant”, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
Jenny Fewster, “Princess Ida”, Stage Whispers
“For the children: A chat with you all”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 2 March 1895, p. 13
“The Children’s Corner: Court of Entertainers”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 13 February 1897, p. 11
“Court of Entertainers”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 13 December 1905, p. 74
“Court of Entertainers”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 28 March 1906, p. 38
See also:
“Princess Ida”, Wikipedia
“The Princess (Tennyson poem)”, Wikipedia
[5] “Amusements”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 20 July 1894, p. 6
“University Dramatic Club”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 21 July 1894, p. 3
“Stage, song and show”, The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW), 25 July 1894, p. 3
“University Dramatic Society”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 25 July 1894, p. 6 [“written especially for the society”]
“Amusements: University Dramatic Society”, Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 25 July 1894, p. 2
“Amusements: University Dramatic Society”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 25 July 1894, p. 8
“Outstanding women of our time: Our best-loved children’s author has written more than 40 books”, The ABC weekly (Sydney), 13 August 1949, p. 4 (col. 1)
[6] “Personal items”, The Bulletin (Sydney), 29 September 1894, p. 10 (col. 1) [publication delayed; Sylvia’s Journal]
“Seven Little Australians”, The Narracoorte Herald (Narracoorte, Vic.), 21 December 1894, p. 11 of the Christmas Supplement [publication delayed; Alfred J. Johnson]
“Periodical Information: Sylvia’s Home Journal”, [Sylvia’s Journal, July-December 1894]
“Saturday, June 2, 1894”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 2 June 1894, p. 7 [A. J. Johnson]
“A girl’s letter”, Quiz (Adelaide, SA), 17 June 1904, p. 9
“A distinguished lady author: How I wrote “Seven Little Australians””, The Kalgoorlie Miner (Kalgoorlie, WA), 13 July 1904, p. 2
“A. J. Johnson”, Design & Art Australia Online
Alison Cheung, ““Killara: Woodlands new owners Albert and Eva Lim to “share” Ethel Turner’s former home ”, News.com.au, 7 July 2017
““1 Werona Avenue, Killara, NSW 2071”, RealEstate.com.au
[7] “Marriages”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 16 May 1896, p. 1 [“April 22, 1896 … Herbert Raine Curlewis to Ethel Sibyl Turner, second stepdaughter of Charles Cope, of Gordon.”]
“Social”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 25 April 1896, p. 10 [Ethel Turner’s wedding]
“Social items”, The Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW), 26 April 1896, p. 8 [Ethel Turner’s wedding]
“Fashionable weddings”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 2 May 1896, p. 35 [“the marriage of Miss Ethel S. Turner, daughter of Mrs. Charles Cope, and Mr. H. R. Curlewis”]
“Woman’s column”, The Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW), 2 May 1896, p. 9 [Ethel Turner’s wedding]
“District items”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 12 August 1907, p. 4 [“Mr. Cope’s orchard, Bukyangi, at Killara”]
“Weddings”, The Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW), 5 March 1898, p. 35 [“wedding took place at Gordon on February 22, between Mr. Frederick Lindsay Thompson and Miss Liliane Turner”]
“Marriages”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 6 July 1901, p. 1 [“Harold C. Pockley … to Rose, daughter of the late Henry Turner, of Leicester, England, and of Mrs. Charles Cope, of Bukyangi, Gordon.”]
A. T. Yarwood, “The Wooing of Ethel Turner”, The Canberra Times (Canberra, ACT), 16 October 1994, p. 19 [Herbert Curlewis and The Parthenon; “secretly engagement” in 1891]
[8] “Australia’s premier authoress: Miss Ethel Turner and her home”, The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser Sydney (NSW), 4 May 1904, p. 1109
“Judge Curlewis, author, lecturer, dead at 73”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 12 October 1942, p. 4
“Ethel Turner wrote 40 books — by hand”, Sunday Times (Perth, WA), 20 February 1955, p. 46
[9] Douglas Booth, “Curlewis, Sir Adrian Herbert (1901–1985)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
“Woman’s column”, The Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW), 2 May 1896, p. 9 [“we can’t afford to lose even one of our pure womanly writers of the Ethel Turner school”]
Yerrigay, “Promiscuous pickings”, The W.A. Record (Perth, WA), 16 May 1896, p. 12 [“her admirers are sorely afraid she will descend from mountain heights of fame”]
[10] Ethel Turner, “Wartime. VIII: The cry of the children”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 23 September 1914, p. 12
“Patriotic funds”, The Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW), 25 July 1915, p. 7 [“a special song, written by Ethel Turner for the occasion”]
Ethel Turner, “The gallant risk”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 15 October 1915, p. 6
Ethel Turner, “The referendum: For love of country”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 7 June 1916, p. 12 (late edition) [letter regarding the referendum for 6 o’clock closing of pubs]
Ethel Turner, “The other woman’s son”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 21 October 1916, p. 16 [letter supporting conscription]
“The Australian soldiers’ gift book”, The Lone Hand (Sydney, NSW) 1 January 1917, p.57 (col. 1)
“The Australian soldiers’ gift book / edited by Ethel Turner (Mrs. H. R. Curlewis) and Bertram Stevens”, National Library of Australia catalogue
“Red Cross Day”, The Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW), 21 April 1918, p. 18 [fundraising]
Colleen, “In the winter garden: Social chat”, Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW), 5 September 1918, p. 29
[11] Brenda Niall, “Turner, Ethel Mary (1870–1958)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
[12] Brenda Niall, “Turner, Ethel Mary (1870–1958)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
“Obituary: Mrs. Charles Cope”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 26 October 1923, p. 8 (late edition) [obituary for Ethel Turner’s mother, mentions her migrating to Sydney with her three daughters]
“Obituary: Mrs. C. Cope”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 27 October 1923, p. 18 (late edition) [obituary for Ethel Turner’s mother, mentions her migrating to Sydney with her three daughters, each being named]
Douglas Booth, “Curlewis, Sir Adrian Herbert (1901–1985)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
[13] Brenda Niall, “Turner, Ethel Mary (1870–1958)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
“Jean Curlewis dead”, The Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld.), 30 March 1930, p. 4
“Writer’s death: Mrs. Leonard Charlton”, The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 31 March 1930, p. 12
“Death of Jean Curlewis”, The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 10 April 1930, p. 64
[14] “Death of Judge Curlewis”, The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 12 October 1942, p. 3
“Judge H. R. Curlewis”, The Advocate (Burnie, Tas.), 12 October 1942, p. 2 [“Capt. Adrian Curlewis … missing in Malaya”]
“Judge Curlewis, author, lecturer, dead at 73”, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW), 12 October 1942, p. 4 [“Captain Adrian Curlewis, is missing in Malaya.”]
“Obituary: Judge Curlewis”, The Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW), 13 October 1942, p. 4
[15] “Ethel Turner dies at 86”, The Canberra Times (Canberra, ACT), 9 April 1958, p. 1
[16] “Items about stage celebrities”, The Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW), 3 May 1914, p. 22 [intended play by Beaumont Smith]
“Seven Little Australians”, The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld.), 19 May 1915, p. 11 [play by Beaumont Smith]
“Amusements: Seven Little Australians”, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate (Newcastle, NSW), 30 April 1920, p. 6 [play produced by Walter Hunt]
“Seven Little Australians: Screen version of Ethel Turner’s famous book ”, The Grenfell Record and Bland & Lachlan District Advertiser (Grenfell, NSW), 30 October 1939, p. 4 [with a photo of the movie cast, and of Ethel Turner]
“Seven Little Australians: Ethel Turner’s book filmed”, The Farmer and Settler (Sydney, NSW), 14 December 1939, p. 12 [with a photo of the movie cast]
“Seven Little Australians”, The Newcastle Sun (Newcastle, NSW), 19 January 1940, p. 3 [with a photo of the movie cast]
“Seven Little Australians (1939)”, IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
“Seven Little Australians: TV Mini-Series (1953– )”, IMDb (Internet Movie Database) [BBC TV series]
“Seven Little Australians”, The Australian Women’s Weekly (Sydney, NSW), 12 September 1973, p. 57 [with a photo of the ABC series cast]
“Seven Little Australians (TV series)”, Australian Television Information Archive [1973 ABC TV series]
“Seven Little Australians: episode guide”, Australian Television Information Archive [1973 ABC TV series]
“Seven Little Australians: TV Series (1973)”, IMDb (Internet Movie Database) [ABC TV series]
“Seven Little Australians – The Musical”, 2 July 2016
“Various – Seven Little Australians: The Musical (1988 Original Australian Cast)”, Discogs
“Seven Little Australians the musical”, The Australian Live Performance Database
See also:
“Ethel Turner”, Wikipedia
“Seven Little Australians”, Wikipedia
“Herbert Curlewis”, Wikipedia
“Jean Curlewis”, Wikipedia
“Adrian Curlewis”, Wikipedia
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