Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 25

INSPIRATION
STRAP HERE

an Aboriginal boy called Charley, their pet koala called Maugie,
and Charlotte’s writing desk. And Charlotte really did have to
fight through the law courts for the right to keep her children
– a battle that went on for years and drained the extensive
fortune that James Atkinson had bequeathed. Charlotte Waring
Atkinson was an inspiring woman of immense courage and
determination.
Her daughter Charlotte was also a strong, talented woman.
Her outstanding academic results were recorded in the
Sydney Morning Herald in 1842. She was engaged to William
Cummings when she was only fifteen, but they did not marry.
She eloped with Thomas McNeilly, a charming Irish coachman,
and was married on her nineteenth birthday.

An oral and written history

I chose to tell this tale as stories within stories to acknowledge
the importance of oral history within families, passing down
wisdom and knowledge from generation to generation.
As well as the oral history of my own family, I was able to draw
on many details recorded in the prolific writings of the family
– books, journals, newspaper articles and letters written by
James Atkinson, Charlotte Waring Atkinson, Charlotte Atkinson
McNeilly and Louisa Atkinson.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Patricia Clarke and her
wonderful book: Pioneer Writer – the life of Louisa Atkinson:
novelist, journalist, naturalist. The extracts of letters in this
book are from actual correspondence between the executors
of James Atkinson’s estate (Alexander Berry and John Coghill)
and Charlotte Atkinson, which were quoted in Pioneer Writer.
Another invaluable modern source was The Natural Art of

Above: One of the brilliantly illustrated
pages from Charlotte Waring Atkinson’s
sketchbook.

From the collection of the State Library of NSW.

Below: An advertisement for Oldbury to be
let, which ran in The Sydney Herald.

A sketch of Oldbury by Louisa Atkinson.

randomhouse.com.au/teachers 25