Mary Elwyn Patchett

Mary Elwyn Patchett (2 December 1897 – 24 July 1989) was an Australian writer of children's literature, beautician and dietitian. She was considered to be a pioneer of children's science fiction and the most widely-read Australian children's author of the time. Patchett spent most of her life in England where both her beauty salon and authorial careers began.

Biography

Early life in Australia Patchett was born on 2 December 1897 in Sydney. She grew up on a cattle station near Texas, Queensland. Patchett left the bush in 1925 and worked as a journalist for five years for the Sun newspaper group.

Beauty salons in London

Patchett left for London in 1931, originally only planning to stay there for six months.

Back in London, Patchett opened a beauty parlour in Clarges Street, Mayfair then moved to Clifford Street in 1936.

Patchett fought for a common standard for beauty specialists, concerned about people providing temporary improvements which could do permanent harm. This led to her opening a school of beauty culture with four students at a time.

Career as author During her time working in beauty salons in London, Patchett also wrote short stories on the side. In 1953, 500 copies of Ajax the Warrior were sold for use in Australian schools alone and a copy of the book was ordered for Buckingham Palace.

In 1954, copy of The Sunburnt Country, a profile of Australia written by Australian writers in England, was given to The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh as a helpful guide for their tour of the country. Patchett wrote the chapter As Nature Left It, describing homestead life including depictions of platypuses and kookaburras.

Patchett was passionate about animals and worked this into her writing, stating that she "gets animals the way other people get jaundice".