Agnes Littlejohn

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Agnes Littlejohn
Born(1865-09-25)25 September 1865
Paddington, New South Wales, Australia
Died27 December 1944(1944-12-27) (aged 79)
Epping, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationPoet, short story writer, children's author

Agnes Littlejohn (25 September 1865 – 27 December 1944) was an Australian writer.

Life[edit]

Agnes Littlejohn was born in Paddington, New South Wales on 25 September 1865.[1] Her Scottish father, Thomas Littlejohn (d.1906) and his wife Ann Austin Littlejohn (née Orsmond in Tahiti) had migrated to Australia in 1864.[2]

Littlejohn had paintings in the Australian Academy of Arts Exhibition in 1892.[3]

Her first collection of short stories was published in 1907, the year following her father's death, and was reviewed favourably by The Sydney Morning Herald.[4] It contained both new stories and others which had previously been published in the Presbyterian.[5] From November 1907 her stories appeared in the "Young Folks" and "Australian Stories" columns of The Sydney Mail.[6][7]

Following the outbreak of World War I, Littlejohn began writing patriotic poetry which was published in The Sydney Mail.[8][9][10] It was collected and re-published in a series of volumes during the war years. She also donated earnings from her writing to patriotic funds.[11][12]

Her first book of fairy stories for children, Star Dust and Sea Spray, appeared in 1918 and was illustrated by Sydney Ure Smith and Percy Leason,[13] while Pixie O'Harris illustrated her 1924 book, The Lost Emerald and other Stories.[14]

She also wrote the lyrics for the song, "To a Butterfly", composed by Raimund Pechotsch in 1925.[15] It was dedicated to and sung by Elsa Stralia.[16]

In 1931 she began to write poetry for The Sydney Morning Herald.[17]

Works[edit]

Prose[edit]

  • The Daughter of a Sailor and other stories (1907)[18]
  • A Lapse of Memory and other stories (1909)
  • Mirage of the Desert (1910)
  • The Breath of India (1914)
  • The Silver Road and other stories (1915)
  • Star Dust and Sea Spray (1918)
  • Rainbow Dreams (1919)
  • The Lost Emerald and other Stories (1924)
  • The Pipes O' Pan and other short stories (1939)

Poetry[edit]

  • Verses (1914)
  • Patriotic Poems (1915)
  • Verses (1915)
  • War Poems, dedicated to Australian soldiers (1916)
  • The Lady of the Doves and other poems (1929)
  • The Guardian of the Gate and other poems (1933)
  • The Unforgotten Watch and other poems (1935)
  • Drowsy Hours and other poems (1936)
  • Lighthouse Keepers and other poems (1938)

Prose and poetry[edit]

  • The Sleeping Sea-Nymph (1921)
  • Lyrics and Lyrical Prose (1927)
  • Lyrics and Mystic Sketches (1928)

Later life and death[edit]

Littlejohn died on 27 December 1944 at a private hospital in Epping, New South Wales.[19] She never married.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LII, no. 8537. New South Wales, Australia. 30 September 1865. p. 1. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Topics for the Block". The Australasian. Vol. LXXX, no. 2078. Victoria, Australia. 27 January 1906. p. 46. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Academy of Arts". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 16, 936. New South Wales, Australia. 2 July 1892. p. 5. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Notes". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 21, 686. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Literature". The Australian Star. No. 6143. New South Wales, Australia. 20 July 1907. p. 9. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Young Folks". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. LXXXIV, no. 2403. New South Wales, Australia. 27 November 1907. p. 1406. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Critics". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. LXXXVI, no. 2438. New South Wales, Australia. 29 July 1908. p. 301. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Unrest". Sydney Mail. Vol. VI, no. 148. New South Wales, Australia. 27 January 1915. p. 30. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "For the Cause". Sydney Mail. Vol. VI, no. 149. New South Wales, Australia. 3 February 1915. p. 27. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Goodbye!". Sydney Mail. Vol. VI, no. 151. New South Wales, Australia. 17 February 1915. p. 34. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "An Appeal From Rabaul". Sunday Times. No. 1504. New South Wales, Australia. 15 November 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "For Our Wounded Soldiers". Sydney Mail. Vol. VII, no. 170. New South Wales, Australia. 30 June 1915. p. 32. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Miscellaneous". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 057. New South Wales, Australia. 27 April 1918. p. 8. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "Recent Publications". The Advertiser. South Australia. 25 October 1924. p. 20. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "To A Butterfly: Song". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  16. ^ ""To a Butterfly"". Freeman's Journal. Vol. LXXV. New South Wales, Australia. 21 May 1925. p. 15. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Sleep, Little Babe". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 058. New South Wales, Australia. 21 February 1931. p. 9. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "The Bookworm's Corner". Freeman's Journal. Vol. LVIII, no. 3573. New South Wales, Australia. 18 July 1907. p. 19. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 390. New South Wales, Australia. 29 December 1944. p. 8. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "RE will of Agnes Littlejohn, late of Epping, spinster". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 131. New South Wales, Australia. 7 December 1945. p. 2306. Retrieved 17 August 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
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