Dorothy Wall (12 January 1894 – 21 January 1942) was a
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
-born writer and illustrator of children's fiction books. She is most famous for creating
Blinky Bill
Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala and children's fictional character created by author and illustrator Dorothy Wall. The character of Blinky first appeared in Brooke Nicholls' 1933 book, ''Jacko – the Broadcasting Kookaburra'', which ...
, an
anthropomorphic koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...
who was the central character in her books ''Blinky Bill: The Quaint Little Australian'' (1933), ''Blinky Bill Grows Up'' (1934) and ''Blinky Bill and Nutsy'' (1937). Most of her books were first published by
Angus & Robertson.
Biography
Wall was born in
Kilbirnie, New Zealand
Kilbirnie (from gd, Cille Bhraonaidh) is a suburb of Wellington in New Zealand, to the south-east of the city centre. Travellers can reach Kilbirnie from the Wellington central business district via the Mount Victoria Tunnel and Hataitai, or ...
on 12 January 1894 of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
parents, Charles James William Wall and Lillian née Palethorpe.
[Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition](_blank)
/ref> In 1904, at the age of ten, she won scholarships for her art. She migrated to Australia in 1914 and worked for '' The Sun'' newspaper in Sydney. In 1920 her first children's story "Tommy Bear and the Zookies" was published and the following year she married Andrew Delfosse Badgery. The same year Wall found some acclaim for her illustrations in J.J. Hall's book "The Crystal Bowl".
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, she continued to work as an illustrator. Her best-known book ''Blinky Bill: The Quaint Little Australian'' was published in 1933. In 1934 she divorced Badgery and moved with her son to Warrimoo in the Blue Mountains where she completed two more Blinky Bill books, ''Blinky Bill Grows Up'' and ''Blinky Bill and Nutsy''. Despite Blinky Bill's popularity Wall experienced financial difficulties and was forced to fall back on her skills as an artist. Angus & Robertson, Ltd., her publishers at the time, provided her with work illustrating book jackets.
Suffering from depression, Bipolar disorder and with failing health, Wall returned to New Zealand in 1937 where she became an illustrator for the ''New Zealand Herald'' and the ''Auckland Weekly News''. Over the next few years, both her health and her financial situation improved, aided no doubt by the publishing of ''The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill'' in 1939. In July 1941 Wall moved back to Sydney and the country she loved so much, but her health quickly deteriorated, and on 21 January 1942 she died of pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
at her home in Cremorne. She was buried in the Northern Suburbs cemetery.
Legacy
In 1985 a postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...
honouring Wall or her creation, Blinky Bill, was issued by Australia Post as part of a set of five commemorating children's books.
Bibliography
* ''The Story of Tommy Bear and the Zookies'' (1920)
* ''The Rainy Day: Gift Book of the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia'' (1925)
* ''Blinky Bill: The Quaint Little Australian'' (1933)
* ''The Tale of Bridget and the Bees'' (1934)
* ''Blinky Bill Grows Up'' (1934)
* ''Brownie: The Story of a Naughty Little Rabbit'' (1935)
* ''Stout Fellows: Chum, Angelina Wallaby, Um-Pig and Flip'' (1936)
* ''Blinky Bill and Nutsy: Two Little Australians'' (1937)
* ''The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill'' (1939)
* ''Blinky Bill Joins the Army'' (1940)
* ''Blinky Bill's Dress-Up Book'' (1942)
* ''Blinky Bill's ABC Book'' (1947)
* ''A Tiny Story of Blinky Bill'' (1947)
* ''Horrie Kiwi and the Kids'' (1983)
References
External links
Dorothy Wall
at IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
See also
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Dorothy
Australian people of English descent
New Zealand people of English descent
1894 births
1942 deaths
New Zealand children's writers
People from Wellington City
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
Australian women writers
New Zealand women children's writers
Blinky Bill
19th-century Australian women
20th-century Australian women
Australian children's writers