Celia M. Syred Celia M. Syred i(A41418 works by) (birth name: Celia Whitlock) (a.k.a. Celia Mary Syred; Celia Syred)
Born: Established: 10 Apr 1911 Gloucestershire,
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England,
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United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 1992
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1955
Heritage: English
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BiographyHistory

Celia Syred studied at the Cheltenham School of Art and subsequently won a scholarship to the Royal College of Arts in London. She taught embroidery and fabric printing at colleges and art schools in England and Wales from 1934 to 1955. After coming to Australia with her English-born Australian husband they lived in Sydney then toured the country by caravan.

Syred's first stories for children had a contemporary rural setting but her later works were historical fiction reflecting her strong interest in European and Australian history.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Hebe's Daughter Sydney : Hodder and Stoughton , 1976 Z848455 1976 single work children's fiction children's historical fiction The bizarre and unpredictable saga of Elizabeth Pollard, daughter of play-actress Hebe, who travels from England to France, then back to England, barely escaping the French Revolution.
1977 commended CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year Award
y separately published work icon Cocky's Castle Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1966 Z797769 1966 single work children's fiction children's

'Waratah House, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, was built in 1864 by Jonathan Penrith, a prosperous but eccentric cocky farmer. No one ever called the place by its proper name, however; it was always known as "Cocky's Castle". Now, a century later, Cocky's Castle still belongs to the family, to old Deborah Penrith. Her great-nephews and nieces - Fran and Barry Smeaton, and Linda and Simon Crathie - love to wander in its garden and to explore Jonathan Penrith's "wild hill", which is a natural sanctuary for birds and native flowers.'

'Then, to their dismay, they learn that Aunt Deborah plans to sell Cocky's Castle and its land. The old place is too large for her, its upkeep too costly. It is Fran who sees the announcement of a competition for Historic Homes, with a substantial cash prize... The four cousins band together to renovate Cocky's Castle and enter it in the competition. They spend all their free time working on the old house, persevering in spite of setbacks. Gradually Cocky's is restored to something of its Victorian grandeur. Fran, the artistic one, is especially bound up in the task - and she is the one who is most dismayed by the unforeseen calamity that finally falls upon the house.

'But is it a calamity? Out of the tragedy springs hope and a new solution... The birds will continue to live unmolested on the wild hill, among the blue-gums, messmates, the waratahs and sweet boronia, and the dignity of Cocky's Castle will live still in memory.' (Dust jacket)

1967 highly commended CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year Award
Last amended 10 Apr 2015 08:16:44
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