MAY GIBBS

'Cecilia May Gibbs' MBE (17 January 1877–27 November 1969) was an Australian children's author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She is best-known for her gumnut babies (also known as "bush babies" or "bush fairies"), and the book ''Snugglepot and Cuddlepie''.

Contents

Biography

References

External links

Further reading

Biography

C May Gibbs was born in Cheam Fields, Surrey, in the United Kingdom,^[1] to Herbert William Gibbs and Cecilia May Rogers, who were both talented artists. She was their second child, and as she was named after her mother, had the nickname "Mamie".^[2] The family moved to South Australia to set up a farm in 1879 due to Herbert's failing eyesight, the result of a boyhood injury.^[3] However, as May had caught the measles, her father and uncle went to Australia, leaving her mother in England to care for the children.^[4] On 1 June, 1881, the Gibbs brothers arrived in South Australia, and began to look for the land arranged for them by a relative of theirs. Over the next few months, the brothers became disillusioned with the land.^[5] Cecilia discovered that she was pregnant again, and decided to make the voyage to Australia with her children. Despite her parents' dismay, Cecilia and the children left, and her third child, Ivan, was born at sea.^[6]A drought in the area caused the family to move again, to Norwood.^[7] In 1885, the family moved again to a farm property in Harvey, Western Australia.^[8] When May was eight years old, she was given a pony by her father.

She used Brownie to explore the bush, and she began to paint and write about the bush at this time.^[10] When May was 10, the family moved to Perth,^[11] and in 1889 May was published for the first time - in the Christmas edition of the ''W.A. Bulletin''.^[12] After finishing school, Gibbs spent seven years studying art in the UK. While overseas, she published her first book, ''About Us''. In 1913 she returned to Australia, and took up residence in Neutral Bay, in Sydney, New South Wales.

1913 also marked the first public appearance of the gumnut babies, on the front cover of ''The Missing Button'', by Ethel Turner, which Gibbs had illustrated. Gibbs' first book about the gumnut babies, appropriately entitled ''The Gumnut Babies'', was published in 1916. It was soon followed, in 1918, by her most famous work, ''Snugglepot and Cuddlepie''. Gibbs would go on to write many books on the theme of the gumnut babies. In addition to her work illustrating and writing, Gibbs also maintained two comic strips, ''Bib and Bub'' and ''Tiggy Touchwood''.
Shortly after publishing ''Snugglepot and Cuddlepie'', Gibbs married B. James Ossoli Kelly.

References

1. Walsh, p. 7
2. Walsh, p 10
3. Walsh, p 11
4. Walsh, p12
5. Walsh, p 13-14
6. Walsh, p. 15
7. Walsh, p17-18
8. Walsh, p.19
9. http://harveytourism.mysouthwest.com.au/Attractions/details?row id=66798212
10. Walsh, p 24-27
11. Walsh, p29
12. Walsh, p 31


★ About May Gibbs, Jean Chapman, Nutcote website. Accessed 1 April 2006.

★ Biography: May Gibbs, Australian National Botanic Gardens website. Accessed 1 April 2006.

★ May Gibbs: Mother of the Gumnuts: Her Life and Work, , Maureen, Walsh, Angus & Robertson, ,

External links

★ May and Herbert Gibbs Collection

★ Nutcote

Further reading

Sharkey, Chris and Pendal, Phillip (2000) ''May and Herbert Gibbs - The people, the Places'' South Perth, W.A. The May Gibbs Trust. ISBN 0-646-38811-8