Other editions of book Seven Little Australians

Seven Little Australians is the story of the mischievous seven children of the Woolcot family - Meg, Pip, Judy, Bunty, Nell, Baby, and the General, whose father little understands them and whose young stepmother is hardly an adult herself. The Australian bush sets an iconic backdrop for the misadventures of this energetic mob. Seven Little Australians is classic work of Australian children's literature and is set in 1880s Sydney. Written by Ethel Turner and originally published in 1894, it was recognised in 1994 as the only Australian book to have been continuously in print for over 100 years.

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.

19th century Australia: Captain Woolcot, having lost his wife tragically young, remarried a much younger young woman to provide his six children with a new mother. Together, they had another child, making seven. The Captain felt it was necessary to run the family with army discipline, but his rules and regulations were no match for the fun loving children, led by the redoubtable Judy. "But now it was morning, and she could disbelieve it no longer. Esther had come to her bedside and kissed her sorrowfully, her beautiful face troubled and tender. The kind-hearted stepmother had begged as she had never done before for a remission of poor Judy's sentence, but the Captain was adamant. To boarding school she must go!"

Seven Little Australians is a children's adventure story by Ethel Turner, considered one of the greatest classics of Australian literature. Published in 1894, this story depicts seven youngsters as they grow up in late 19th century Australia, in and around the Sydney area. Turner aptly portrays her characters as ordinary, mischievous children with a austere but well-meaning father who is a Captain of the armed forces. The Captain's struggle to express his emotions is a running theme of the novel; the stereotypical male of the time being encouraged to maintain a strong, generally silent demeanor. The children's young stepmother fails to apply discipline: noting her inability to bring order, the children create havoc. However, in freely getting up to mischief the youngsters encounter adventure after adventure in their locality. Ranging in age from four to sixteen, they grapple with many aspects of growing up, Meg - the eldest girl - for instance experiences an early romance, while the younger kids frequently play pranks. Authentically depicting rural and urban Australia as it was during the nation's infancy, this novel is unusual for coming-of-age stories in that it makes no attempt at overt moralizing. Nevertheless the perils of the world, and the potential for calamity even in a life defined by peace and discovery, are ever-present. Having received multiple adaptations for television, radio and the big screen, Seven Little Australians has long cemented its status as a fictional classic.

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Excerpt from Seven Little AustraliansSeven little australians achieved an instan taneous success when first published, and edition after edition was called for. It was pronounced by press and public alike to be comparable to that world-famous book Little Women, and Miss Turner became known everywhere as Miss Alcott's true successor.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.