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Searching for Charlotte: Australia’s First Children’s Writer

3 November 2020

Searching for Charlotte: Australia’s First Children’s Writer

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Australia’s first children’s book, A Mother’s Offering to Her Children, was published in 1841. The book’s author, referred to simply as ‘A Lady Long Resident in NSW’, was actually Charlotte Waring Atkinson. Australian writer Kate Forsyth, a descendant of Charlotte Waring Atkinson, has spent the past year investigating her ancestor’s astonishing true story of love, grief, and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Searching for Charlotte — written by Kate with her sister Belinda Murrell — is to be published by the National Library in 2021 to celebrate the 180th anniversary of A Mother’s Offering.