My family amd my childhood

Libby at 19 years

Libby at 3 years

I was brought up in a family of four–two sisters, Margaret and Suzanne and a brother Stephen–in the Sydney suburbs of Maroubra and then Tamarama Beach. I attended Maroubra Junction Infants and Primary Schools and then Sydney Girls’High School. In many ways, being not far from the beach at Maroubra, and then living right at Tamarama Beach, I had a very free childhood. I loved the beach and swimming but I must admit, was not in any other way an active child, preferring reading and writing rather than any organized sport. I did not shine at school sports, although once I went as reserve softball player to Newcastle–the city of my birth. This was for the Maroubra Junction Primary Softball team and my father was so excited he bought me a bat and ball of my own, hoping I’d exhibit some sporting prowess. But the softball phase was short-lived and I only excelled in the Orange Race at high school–much to his disappointment.

Margaret and Libby Christmas 1948

I remember being too shy in primary school to run in the races at Sports Day. And though I really longed to take part, I was always watching my sister from the back of the church hall taking part in Monday evenings’Physical Culture that all the kids I knew attended. Again I was just too painfully shy to join in. As kids we often played outside on the grass verge in our street in Maroubra. I loved playing chasings and riding my bike. I also liked sitting in circles listening to the older girls talking about life and love and the boy they liked. I’ve written a series of poems about this time entitled Maroubra Cycle.

Suzanne, Claret and Libby 1960's

The bookcase in my parents' lounge room, as well as the bookcase in my sisters’room, featured large in our life. I read anything and everything I could lay my hands on as the library was a long bus ride away, and we were only able to borrow two books at a time. A great addition was the later Mobile Library, a caravan-type vehicle crammed with books that came once a fortnight to our street. We sisters often read aloud to each other and favoured Australian series such as The Billabong Books by Mary Grant Bruce and Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians and the sequels.

Lisa and Keiran 1999

The beach and the bush had a great influence on my childhood and consequently on my writing. Looking out for Sampson, a short novel for young readers, is set on Bondi Beach; as is of course one of my earliest picture storybooks, The Tram to Bondi Beach. Another Sydney beach, Coogee, features in my novel Love Me Tender. I can’t imagine living far from a beach even now. And of course Thunderwith–my first young adult novel–is set in the heart of a New South Wales semi-tropical forest, the Wallingat. I now have a grown-up family of my own. Lisa and Keiran have featured in some of my books when they were little kids.