With so many talented young people in the cast, the whole Woolcot family were outstanding in their roles: stern Captain Woolcot, played by Sam Ewart Clare Grosser as the eldest Meg Luka Bolte was a responsible Pip Mia Bryson an energetic Baby Alex Lang as patient Nell and the cute red-haired Audrey Vincent as “General” with Harriett Wolf as long-suffering graceful step-mother Esther. The first group of girls’ conversation, setting the scene, was softly spoken and we strained to hear their important words. I appreciated the young usherettes, dressed in 1890s costume, who politely showed us to our seats. Experienced through children’s rebellious energy and love of freedom and independence, the story gives us plenty to think about – the love and teamwork of family bonds and the profound effect of loss, life and death on everyone. It’s a story of the past – early colonial days in NSW – where old Victorian values, discipline and will power tried to control rather than adapt to the “new” Australian way of life. It was adapted for stage by HYT local Joan Leslie and first performed in 2001.
Her granddaughter Philippa Poole has published a book about her grandmother entitled The Diaries of Ethel Turner.“Seven Little Australians” is a classic true blue Australian story by Ethel Turner written in 1893.
Ethel Turner died in 1958, leaving as her memorial a book that is now regarded as a classic in children's literature. Seven Little Australians has been read and loved by children all over the world, and it has been continuously in print for over 100 years. Ethel Turner went on to write over 40 books in her lifetime, including children's stories, short stories and poems, many of which appeared in the Town and Country journal and in the Sun Herald newspaper. It has been translated into at least 11 languages, performed as a stage play, and been made into a film, a BBC television series in 1953, and a 10-episode television series for the ABC in 1973. Since then the book has sold over 2 million copies in the English language and has been reprinted over 50 times. In January 1893 she recorded in her diary, "Night started a new story that I shall call Seven Little Australians." Later that year, she finished the book, parcelled it up and sent it off to a publisher in Melbourne. Ethel kept diaries for a remarkable 62 years, recording the details of her full and eventful life. She showed a great love of literature while at school and in her late teens launched a literary and social magazine in Sydney with her sister Lilian. Born in England in 1870, Ethel Turner came to Australia with her mother and sisters when she was 10 years old.
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