Estelle Pinney Estelle Pinney i(A7244 works by) (a.k.a. Estelle Runcie Pinney; Estelle Runcie; Estelle Payne)
Born: Established: 1925 Far North Queensland, Queensland, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Estelle Pinney grew up in Mareeba and Cairns in North Queensland. She left school at fourteen to work in her grandfather's photographic studio. During the Second World War, Pinney worked in a hand grenade factory in Brisbane, before joining an ambulance unit as a driver for the US forces.

She began writing in the 1960s, while she was working as a beauty consultant for Coty and Revlon. In 1963 she married writer Peter Pinney (q.v.). She became a deckhand on his crayfishing boat in the Torres Straits, where they conducted much of the research for their book, Too Many Spears. After the sale of the boat, the Pinneys returned to Brisbane.

Estelle Pinney has worked in a variety of jobs in her life, including photographic colourist, door knocker for radio surveys, programme arranger/news writer (Radio Daru PNG), breakfast cook for a small motel (one of the first at Airlie Beach, North Queensland), registered deckhand, unregistered nurse, barmaid at Weipa, and beauty consultant. She has lived in Brisbane for many years.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon House on the Hill Camberwell : Penguin , 2005 Z1172711 2005 single work novel historical fiction
2012 shortlisted The National Year of Reading 2012 Our Story Collection Queensland
y separately published work icon A Net Full of Honey St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1996 Z431098 1996 single work novel historical fiction young adult 'Far north Queensland: the early 1920s. The three Dalton sisters - mercurial Belle, practical Molly, studious Josie, live together in Mrs Saunders's boarding house on Melton Hill, Townsville. Belle has stardust in her eyes as she tours the ranges with the dancing and singing "Rainbow Ramblers". Molly is head cook at King's Hotel ... Josie's bookish ambitions are thwarted by poverty and the rigid moral code of the time. "Those Dalton girls" are loved and respected by their friends, who include Nicos, owner of the Greek cafe; the gentle Hop Choy family; Fisherman Fred; and the irrepressible Harry Bartlett, photographer.' (Source: Back cover.)
1996 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
Last amended 12 May 2011 16:03:33
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