1370661672398333519.jpg
'Without doubt Judy was the worst of the seven, probably because she was the cleverest.'
'Her father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible – but seven children were really too much for him and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule.
'Step inside and meet them all – dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter and their tears.' (From the publisher's website.)
Largely adapted from Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians, with some incidents from Miss Bobbie also incorporated into the narrative.
The critical reception to the play was almost unanimously positive, with most critics agreeing that writer/director/producer Beaumont Smith had captured the spirit of the original stories and had succeeded in staging it for the benefit of the children present. Well before the 1914 Palace Theatre premiere Smith indicated his intention, saying that Seven Little Australians had been on his mind as a theatrical production for several years and that he 'always felt that children should have plays written for them for daytime performances.' He went on to further note that he believed that they should also be written in a childish spirit, with the point of view always being from that of a child' (Adelaide Mail 2 May 1914, p. 13).
Seven Little Australians
( dir. Arthur Greville Collins
)
Australia
:
O. B. Pictures
,
1939
Z972382
1939
single work
film/TV
A feature film based on Ethel Turner's novel of the same name, Seven Little Australians celebrates the energetic, free-wheeling spirit of Australian youth. The storyline follows the escapades of the seven Woolcot children as they struggle to win the affections of their strict father while simultaneously attempting to exert their own independent identities.
In this 1939 cinematic adaptation, Captain Woolcot is portrayed as a harsher, less loving character rather than a father whose love for his family is being suppressed by his belief in discipline.
Seven Little Australians
United Kingdom (UK)
:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
,
1953
Z1360640
1953
series - publisher
film/TV
children's
A five-part television series based on Ethel Turner's novel of the same name, this BBC version of Seven Little Australians was produced primarily for children. The storylines follow the escapades of the seven Woolcot children as they struggle to win the affections of their strict father.
Seven Little Australians
Australia
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1953
9378157
1953
series - publisher
radio play
children's
A radio adaptation of Ethel Turner's novel.
Seven Little Australians
ABC Television
(publisher),
( dir. Ron Way
)
Sydney
:
ABC Television
,
1973
Z972389
1973
series - publisher
film/TV
children's
young adult
historical fiction
A ten-part television mini-series adapted from the 1894 novel Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner (q.v.). Set in Sydney in the 1890s, the stories concern Captain Woolcot, an English widower with seven children, who has recently married again. The family lives in their large home 'Misrule,' which lies along the banks of the Parramatta River. As an officer in the New South Wales Regiment, Woolcot attempts to implement regimental discipline but is constantly harassed and embarrassed by the antics of his seven mischievous children: Meg, Pip, Judy, Nell, Bunty, Baby, and 'The General.' Since he is unable to control them, it is his new wife who invariably takes on all the trials of bringing up the children, with the most difficult child being the ring-leader Helen, commonly known as Judy.
Based on the famous Ethel Turner stories and made possible by a Bicentenary gift from James Hardie Industries, this musical version of Seven Little Australians concerns gruff widower and army officer Captain Woolcot, his six tear-away children, his demure new wife (who is not much older than his oldest daughter), and their baby son.
'Not one of these seven little Australians are really good, because Australian children never are!
The adventures of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their stern father Captain Woolcot, and young stepmother, Esther, in early Australia' (Villanova Players website).
Unit Suitable For
AC: Years 5 and 6 (NSW Stage 3).
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Seven Little Australians
Mary Brooks
(illustrator),
London
:
Ward, Lock
,
1975
Z1148384
1975
single work
picture book
children's
'In colonial Australian children’s literature, the desire to exert control over the land, its inhabitants, and the construction of a national identity has been a central concern, exemplified in the narrative of the lost child in the Australian bush. The lost child trope offers a reflection of “Australian anxiety” (Pierce, The Country of Lost Children: An Australian Anxiety. Cambridge University Press, 1999), symbolising the troubled negotiation in integrating European ideals onto an Indigenous landscape (Pierce, The Country of Lost Children: An Australian Anxiety, xii. Cambridge University Press, 1999); this is heightened when the lost child is female. Colonial texts place deviant female characters as being subsumed by the bush as a culmination of concerns about national identity and gender roles. This chapter explores the colonial tradition of representation of the girl and the bush as entities to be feared and dominated through A Little Bushmaid by Mary Grant Bruce and Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner. It considers how contemporary Australian Young Adult texts rewrite the lost child in the bush trope through the complex symbolic relationship between the girl and the bush in Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden and The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf reclaims a focus on Indigenous land, identity, knowledge, and narrative, returning to Indigenous roots.' (Publication abstract)
'I can’t remember if I first met Judy Woolcot on the TV screen or in print: the two versions have cohered into a single entity. The television series of Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians first aired in 1973, so if I met her on-screen, it must’ve been via re-runs.' (Introduction)
'Turner’s Seven Little Australians (Turner, 1894) was written more than one hundred years prior to Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (Gaiman, 2008) and their settings are separated by more than 15000km. Despite these vast disparities in time and location, they share a surprising level of commonality founded in gender-based power constructs generated through their narration. As popular children’s novels, each narrative has played a role in perpetuating the patriarchal norms including the silencing of strong women and the forgiveness of flawed men. The impact of these literary voices in the shaping of children’s understanding of gender norms cannot be understated. In 2018, a decade on from the release of The Graveyard Book (Gaiman, 2008) and 124 years since the publication of Seven Little Australians (Turner, 1894) children’s literature still places the narratological power firmly in the hands of the male protagonists. CYoung readers are well overdue for a shift in narratological power.'
Source: Author's abstract.
From Colonial to Modern: Transnational Girlhood in Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Children's Literature, 1840-1940
Toronto
:
University of Toronto Press
,
2018
15039944
2018
multi chapter work
criticism
'Through a comparison of Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand texts published between 1840 and 1940, From Colonial to Modern develops a new history of colonial girlhoods revealing how girlhood in each of these emerging nations reflects a unique political, social, and cultural context.
'Print culture was central to the definition, and redefinition, of colonial girlhood during this period of rapid change. Models of girlhood are shared between settler colonies and contain many similar attitudes towards family, the natural world, education, employment, modernity, and race, yet, as the authors argue, these texts also reveal different attitudes that emerged out of distinct colonial experiences. Unlike the imperial model representing the British ideal, the transnational girl is an adaptation of British imperial femininity and holds, for example, a unique perception of Indigenous culture and imperialism. Drawing on fiction, girls’ magazines, and school magazine, the authors shine a light on neglected corners of the literary histories of these three nations and strengthen our knowledge of femininity in white settler colonies.' (Publication summary)
