Mavis Thorpe Clark
Mavis Thorpe Clark was an Australian author recognized for her contributions to children's and young adult literature over a career spanning from the 1940s to the late 1980s. Born on June 29, 1909, in Melbourne, she was the youngest of five children in a family that encouraged her passion for writing from a young age. Clark began her writing journey as a teenager and published her first book-length work at the age of eighteen. Her literary career took a significant turn with the publication of *The Brown Land Was Green* in 1956, marking her transition into historical fiction, particularly focusing on Australia's pioneer past and World War II experiences.
One of her most acclaimed works, *The Min-Min*, published in 1966, is set in the Australian Outback and draws inspiration from her travels across the country, showcasing the unique landscapes and stories of Australia. Throughout her career, Clark continued to reflect on Australian life and culture in her novels, exploring various themes such as the impact of ranching on the environment and the experiences of mining communities. Her work received numerous accolades, including awards from the Children's Book Council of Australia and recognition in the United States. Even in her later years, Clark remained devoted to her writing and the rich tapestry of Australian life, ultimately leaving behind an unfinished autobiography at her passing in 1999.
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Subject Terms
Mavis Thorpe Clark
Writer
- Born: June 29, 1909
- Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Died: July 8, 1999
Biography
Mavis Thorpe Clark, a native of Australia whose publications span over forty years, from the 1940’s to the late 1980’s, is best known as an author of fiction for children and young adults that brings to life the sights and sounds of her native country. She was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on June 29,1909, the youngest daughter of John Thorpe Clark, a Scottish-born building contractor who came to Australia as a young man, and Rose Matilda (Stanborough) Clark, who was born in Wales but who came to Australia as a baby. Clark was by far the youngest of five children and remembered being encouraged to write by her mother and by her much-older sister Vi.
Clark began writing in earnest as a teenager. At fourteen, while attending Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne, she wrote her first story, which was later published in The Australasian magazine. She published her first book-length work, Hatherly’s First Fifteen, an adventure story for boys, at the age of eighteen. As a young woman, Clark married Harold Latham, with whom she had two daughters, Beverly Jeanne and Ronda Fay. Clark continued to write short stories, articles, and radio plays while her daughters were growing up, but began writing book-length adventure stories for children around 1949.
The year 1956 marked an important change in Clark’s work. With The Brown Land Was Green, Clark moved into the area of historical fiction. She based the novel on the experiences of her Aunt Martha, who lived in Victoria during pioneer times. The novel received a Children’s Book Council of Australia Commendation in 1956. Subsequent novels for young people continued to explore Victoria’s pioneer past as well as Australia during World War II. In the 1960’s and then again in the 1980’s, Clark adapted several of the novels from this period into fifty-two-episode radio-play serials for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Clark began another chapter of her writing career with her work on the novel The Min- Min, published in 1966. This book, often considered to be her finest work, is set in the Australian Outback and was inspired by a journey she took with Harold Darwin, a retired schoolteacher who devoted his time to bringing books to people in isolated areas of the country. On this journey Clark saw the min-min, the legendary and elusive bright light seen just above the horizon, and she also came to know and appreciate areas of Australia she had never known before. The Min-Min received the Australian Book of the Year Award in 1967 and an American Library Association Notable Book Award in 1969.
The journey that inspired The Min-Min was just the first of many for Clark. Although she traveled to Europe and Asia, her extensive travels within Australia proved most meaningful to her personally and to her work. Blue Above the Trees, which received a Commendation from the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1968, explored the impact that sheep and cattle ranching had on the Australian rain forests. Later novels, like Spark of Opal and Iron Mountain, explored, respectively, life in the opal mines of Coober Pedy and in mining towns in western Australia. The translations of both of these novels received German Youth Book Awards. After a period of writing historical fiction for young adults, Clark turned to the present day, but she never abandoned her Australian settings. Even in her later years she spent many hours and traveled many miles over the back roads of Australia as she worked on the autobiography that remained unfinished at her death in 1999.