Lucy Frances Harvey Rees

Lucy Frances Harvey "Lu" Rees (19 September 190123 January 1983) was an Australian bookseller, book collector and children's literature advocate. She founded the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature

Life and career Rees was born Lucy Frances Harvey Waugh at Guy Fawkes Station in Armidale, New South Wales on 19 September 1901. She was interested in literature from an early age, reading poetry and the classics in her father's collection.

Rees and her husband divorced in 1962. In mid-1968 she embarked on a three-month world tour with her youngest son Lauron; it was Rees' first time overseas. They visited Israel, Istanbul, Greece, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, England, Canada and the United States.

In 1980, having amassed a collection of more than 1500 children's books, Rees officially deposited the collection in the Canberra College of Advanced Education Library.

Rees died on 23 January 1983 in Canberra. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1983. Her collection of children's books and manuscripts became the Lu Rees Archives, which is now known as the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature.

Posthumously, Rees was awarded the Dromkeen Medal for services to children's literature.

Rees' family presented her medals to the University of Canberra in June 2005 so that the medals could be stored at the Lu Rees Archives.