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= Amy_Mack =
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Introduction
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Amy Eleanor Mack (6 June 1876, Port Adelaide - 4 November 1939,
Sydney), also known as Amy Eleanor Harrison and Mrs. Launcelot
Harrison, was an Australian writer, journalist, and editor. She was
honorary secretary of the National Council of Women of New South
Wales. She is best known as a children's author of such books as
'Bushland stories' (1910) and 'Scribbling Sue' (1914) and others, as
well as a journalist and an editor of 'Sydney Morning Herald.'
Life
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Amy Eleanor Mack was born on 6 June 1876 in Port Adelaide and was one
of thirteen children in the family. Her father, Rev. Hans Hamilton
Mack was a Wesleyan minister from Downpatrick, Ireland, and her mother
Jemima, née James, was from Armagh. Due to his work her father was
required to move every three years, therefore the family lived in
various places in South Australia and New South Wales. They left South
Australia in 1878, then spent three years at Morpeth and Windsor, New
South Wales, and finally settled in Sydney in 1882. Mack was educated
at the Sydney Girls High School. Her older sister Louise and younger
sister Gertude were also writers.
Mack married Professor Launcelot Harrison on 29 February 1908. The
couple did not have children. In 1914 they moved to London where
Harrison did postgraduate work at Cambridge. During World War I Mack's
husband served in the Middle East while she moved to London. In 1919
the Harrisons returned to Australia and lived in Gordon, New South
Wales. Between 1920 and 1923 Mack was an honorary secretary of the
National Council of Women of New South Wales. She was also the first
woman on the council of the Institute of Journalists in New South
Wales and the only woman ever elected as vice-president of the
institute.
Amy Eleanor Mack died of arteriosclerosis on 4 November 1939 in St.
Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and was cremated with Presbyterian forms.
Work
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Soon after graduating from Sydney Girls High School Mack started
working as a freelance journalist. In 1907 she became an editor of the
'Women's Page' of the 'Sydney Morning Herald' and remained in this
position till 1914. In 1909 Mack published her first book, 'A Bush
Calendar,' that consisted of her nature articles that previously
appeared in the 'Sydney Morning Herald.'
In 1910, Mack published three collections of short stories for
children: 'Waterside Stories', 'Birdland Stories' and 'Bushland
Stories.' These stories were adopted for supplementary reading in
primary schools and were considered the best of their kind produced in
Australia by that time. Though the publisher was not sure about the
success of the children's books and produced them economically with no
illustrations, Mack's books found an immediate audience within the
schools where nature studies had been recently added to the primary
school curriculum. 'Bushland Stories' became so popular that it was
reprinted eleven times by 1940.
In 1911, the book 'Bush Days,' another collection of Mack's essays for
adults from the 'Sydney Morning Herald', was published. In 1914 she
published a children's book 'Scribbling Sue' that became as popular as
'Bushland Stories,' and 80,000 copies of both books were sold by 1930.
In 1916 and 1917 Mack worked in London in the Ministry of Munitions as
a public relations officer for the welfare section. After that she was
a publicity officer for the Ministry of Food in London. In 1922 Mack
published another book for adults, 'The Wilderness.'
After her husband died in 1928 Mack continued to publish occasional
articles.
Mack's books can be found in libraries throughout the world, including
the National Library of Australia, the New York Public Library, the
British Library and others.
Books
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* 'A Bush Calendar' (1909)
* 'Bushland Stories' (1910, volume 1)
* 'Birdland Stories' (1910, volume 2)
*'Waterside Stories' (1910, volume 3)
*'Bush Days' (1911)
*'Scribbling Sue and Other Stories' (1914)
*'The Tom-Tit's Nest' (1914)
*'The Wilderness' (1922)
*'The Fantail's House' (1928, volume 1)
*'The Gum Leaf That Flew: And Other Stories of the Australian
Bushland' (1928, volume 2)
*'Why the Spinebill's Beak is Long' (1928, volume 3)
*'The Little Black Duck' (1928)
*'The Flower Fairies' (1928)
*'The Bird's Concert' (1928)
License
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Mack
