1. Eleanor Dark AO was an Australian writer whose novels included Prelude to Christopher and Return to Coolami, both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for literature, and her best known work The Timeless Land.
11 Facts About Eleanor Dark
1. 2.
Eleanor Dark was born in Sydney, the second of three children of the poet, writer and parliamentarian Dowell O'Reilly and his wife, Eleanor McCulloch O'Reilly.
3.
Eleanor Dark studied at the Redlands College for Girls at Cremorne, and was known as Pixie O'Reilly.
4.
Eric Eleanor Dark was an active member of the Labor left in New South Wales, was involved in contemporary political debate and was a committed socialist and one-time Communist.
5.
Eleanor Dark's books include The World Against Russia and Who are the Reds.
6.
Eleanor Dark was a frequent contributor to Walkabout magazine, where she shared, wrote Eric Lowe, her love of Australian flora This love is evident in her 1955 article on 'The Blackall Range Country' and in her sense of life and light in a 1951 article about the beauty of Central Australia:.
7.
Eleanor Dark wrote her last published work, Lantana Lane at the farm.
8.
Dr Eleanor Dark's political writing and involvement in left-wing circles attracted attention from anti-communist elements within the Menzies Government and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.
9.
Eleanor Dark's best known work is The Timeless Land, the first part of a trilogy, with Storm of Time and No Barrier.
10.
Eleanor Dark was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours of 1977.
11.
Michael Eleanor Dark inherited the family home 'Varuna' in Katoomba, which in 1988 was turned into a writers' centre known as Varuna, The Writers' House.