Harriet Ethel Kelman's first published works appeared in the Sydney Mail in 1920 and 1921 under the name of Ethel Kelman. Kelman was always known as 'Ethel' within her family and the liked name 'Dalrymple' which was a family name and her later work appeared under the pseudonym 'E. Dalrymple'. As well as writing, she also designed dolls, considered herself and artist, and had been a pupil of sculptor, Nelson Illingworth. Her illustrated selection of stories When the Stars Look Down was popular with Australian children and appeared in school reading lists and in extracted forms in school magazines. As Ethel Dalrymple she also wrote the lyrics of Glamour (1944), music by Horace Keats, and a poem 'This England' which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1940 after her return from a trip to England.
