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Title page of the first edition
y separately published work icon A Mother's Offering to Her Children selected work   prose   poetry   children's  
Note: Originally attributed to Lady Bremer, wife of Sir James John Gordon Bremer, in J.A. Ferguson's Bibliography of Australia. More recently attributed to Charlotte Barton in Marcie Muir's Charlotte Barton : Australia's First Children's Author (Sydney : Wentworth Books, 1980).
First known date: 1841 Issue Details: First known date: 1841... 1841 A Mother's Offering to Her Children
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Takes the form of a dialogue in which the mother of the title, Mrs Saville, talks to her four children, Clara, Emma, Julius and Lucy as they sit together each evening. The children ask their mother questions which lead to narratives about shipwreck, station life and Australian flora and fauna, interspersed with moral lessons for the children.

Exhibitions

Notes

  • The first children's book published in Australia.
  • Users are warned that this work contains terminology that reflects attitudes or language used at the time of publication that are considered inappropriate today.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,: 1841 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Extraordinary Sounds, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. [1]-21)
Wreck of the 'Charles Eaton', A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. [22]-84)
The History of the Swallows, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 85-90)
The Purple Beetle, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 91-100)
Joseph Forbes, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 101-136)
Port Essington, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 137-157)
Timor, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 158-160)
Sea Shells, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 161-169)
Loss of the "Stirling Castle", A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 170-183)
A Visit to an Iron Mine, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 184-190)
Copper Mine, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 190-196)
Anecdotes of the Aborigines of New South Wales, A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work prose children's (p. 197-214)
Lines Written During a Storm in the Bay of Biscayi"Almighty God, by whose command,", A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , single work poetry children's (p. 215-216)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

y separately published work icon Searching for Charlotte: The Fascinating Story of Australia's First Children's Author Belinda Murrell , Kate Forsyth , Canberra : National Library of Australia , 2020 20791476 2020 single work biography

'For almost 140 years, the author of Australia’s first book for children was a mystery. Known only by the description ‘a Lady Long Resident in New South Wales’, she was the subject of much speculation. It was not until 1980, after a decade of sleuthing, that legendary bibliographer Marcie Muir gave her a name: Charlotte Waring Atkinson. And not only a name, but an extensive creative family history, connecting her to two of the nation’s celebrated contemporary children’s writers, Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell.

'To Forsyth and Murrell, Atkinson (also known as Barton) is great-great-great-great grandmother and the subject of the stories they grew up on—part of a thread of creative women that runs through the history of their family. Hers is one of the great lost stories of Australian history: a tale of love, grief, violence and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds.

'After spending half her life educating the children of the well-to-do in England, in 1826, at 30 years of age, Charlotte Waring accepted a job on the other side of the world. She was to teach the children of Maria Macarthur, daughter of former New South Wales governor Philip Gidley King. But on the voyage, love diverted her to a different future: marriage to the eligible James Atkinson meant she spent just seven short months with her charges. What followed were years of hardship in the New South Wales bush, including the death of Atkinson and her subsequent marriage to an abusive drunk, a brutal attack by bushrangers, penury and the threat of having her children taken away.

'In Searching for Charlotte, Forsyth and Murrell tell Charlotte’s story along with that of their own journey to discover her. In an intriguing account, the sisters join the reader in reacting to Charlotte’s actions: wondering what could have motivated certain choices; admiring the strength of spirit that pushed Charlotte through turmoil in the Australian colonies; and reviling attitudes that were common to the mid-1800s but are abhorrent in the twentieth century.

'The extraordinary, long-buried life story of Australia’s earliest published children’s author, Searching for Charlotte combines elements of biography, recreation of history and rediscovery of family history. It is a sometimes confronting but ultimately heartwarming journey into the story of a family with writing in its blood.' (Publisher's abstract)

y separately published work icon From Colonial to Modern: Transnational Girlhood in Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand Children's Literature, 1840-1940 Michelle J. Smith , Kristine Moruzi , Clare Bradford , 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)

Traversing the Unfamiliar : German Translations of Aboriginality in James Vance Marshall’s The Children and Phillip Gwynne’s Deadly Unna? and Nukkin Ya Leah Gerber , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 1 2014;

'The tendency for Western cultures to emphasise imperial attitudes and experiences in their literature has been described by Edward Said as the primary means by which colonised people assert their identity and the existence of their own history (xii). The tradition of Australian children’s literature, which first grew out of contributions made by European colonisers and largely ignored any indigenous past has been referred to as a “product of colonial history” (Bradford, “Representing Indigeneity” 90) and “a shamelessly racist catalogue of prejudice and misinformation, of superficial clichés, offensive stereotyping and entirely subjective interpretation” (McVitty 7). Historians Robert Hodge and Vijay Mishra use the term Aboriginalism – a variation of Said’s notion of Orientalism – to describe the way in which colonial powers traditionally constructed ideas about the colonised other within patterns of discourse, aptly masking their racist objective and appearing to function constructively (27).

'Focusing on three Australian children’s texts translated into German, this paper examines how the notion of Aboriginality – at different points in time – is presented in the source text and dealt with in translation. While consideration of the purpose – the skopos (Vermeer 1989/2004) – of the translation forming the backbone of contemporary translation theory, the so-called aims of children’s literary translation also cast an important light on the way in which translation strategies are informed. Furthering the international outlook and understanding of young readers remains the most commonly agreed-upon objective of children’s literary translation. In real terms, the execution of this aim often comes down to the decision to foreignise or domesticate. The problem, as translator Anthea Bell writes, is that “one wants readers of the translated text to feel that they are getting the real book, as close as possible to the original”, but which – vitally – includes respecting the foreign aspects of the source text (62). Yet translators of children’s literature (unlike translators of adult literature) have the added challenge of having to negotiate a variety of what Katharina Reiss calls ‘Vermittlerinstanzen’ (intermediaries): parents, teachers, librarians and publishers, who place pressure on the translator (in regards to taboos and pedagogical aspects of the text), so much so that the outcome (i.e. the target text) is affected (7).' (Publication abstract)

Historic Kids' Book Is a Rare Offering Liz Walsh , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 11 May 2013; (p. 17)
Heirs of Immortality Kate Forsyth , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of The Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 56 no. 1 2012; (p. 2-5)
Kate Forsyth provides an account of the life of her great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Charlotte Waring, the author of A Mother's Offerings to her Children.
Another Mystery Solved; or, Ferguson Corrected Elizabeth Webby , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 41 no. 3 1981; (p. 363-364)

— Review of A Mother's Offering to Her Children A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales , 1841 selected work prose poetry ; Charlotte Barton : Australia's First Children's Author Marcie Muir , 1980 single work criticism biography
A Mother's Offering to Her Children and Other Children's Books in the 1840's Victor Crittenden , 1993 single work column
— Appears in: The Lu Rees Archives Notes, Books and authors , no. 15 1993; (p. 9-11)
y separately published work icon Bush, City, Cyberspace : The Development of Australian Children's Literature into the Twenty-First Century John Foster , E. J. Finnis , Maureen Nimon , Wagga Wagga : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University , 2005 Z1508775 2005 single work criticism (taught in 7 units) Provides a snapshot of the state of Australian children's and adolescent literature in the early twenty-first century, and an insight into its history, promoting a sense of where Australian literature for young people may be going. Written by the same three authors published for information studies in 1995.
Changing Perspectives : The Implied Reader in Australian Children's Literature 1841-1994 H. M. Saxby , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature in Education , March vol. 26 no. 1 1995; (p. 25-38)
"Providence Designed It for a Settlement" : Religious Discourses and Australian Colonial Texts Clare Bradford , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , Spring vol. 24 no. 1 (p. 4-14)
You've Come a Long Way, Baby : Multicultural Literature for Children Wendy Morgan , 1995 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Language and Literacy , November vol. 18 no. 4 1995; (p. 270-281)
Last amended 8 Aug 2018 12:42:50
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