25/01/2026
Happy 149 to the iconic May Gibbs, English author who adopted Australia as her home.
As a child, she immigrated from England to WA with her family and fell in love with the Australian Bush. How could she not? After a few stints in London at art school she moved to Sydney and lived in Neutral Bay ( near where I once lived). Her parents bought a beautiful Sydney Harbour facing block of bush land and ( the name of her house) was her home till she died. Because she loved children...she donated her house and funds to the Cerebal Palsy Alliance and Northcott Disability Services.
Through her legacy she has helped so many children.
❤️
Despite being female... May Gibbs had an incredibly successful career as a writer and cartoonist. Her most famous work is the Gumnut Babies. Sadly because she was female, she was paid 1/3 to 1/4 the $$$ payments a man would have received. But she continued to create and brought so much joy to generations of children.
She loved the Australian bush, and with her husband and Scottish Terriers ( who were her children), she travelled to the often on vacation...to spend time in nature.
Today...in honour of her birthday...Scotty dogs and their owners...and Westies got into Nutcote for free. Which gave me a great chance to catch up with friends ( hoo-man and furries) including
Ps. Can you tell I'm a fan? She's one of my favourite authors and I'm in awe of the great work she achieved.
❤️