Imagine...the Wonder of Picture Books: Illustration for Gumnut Babies

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Illustration for Gumnut Babies

Three children wearing gumnut hats sitting in a tree

by May Gibbs

ink and grey wash

Call number: PXD 304/vol. 1/8

May Gibbs National Library of Australia, TRC 1/356, May Gibbs interviewed by Hazel De Berg, 1968.

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Imagine_08_GumnutBabies_MayGibbs.mp3

Transcript

I always loved the Australian flowers, in Perth to begin with, and I used to make pictures of them. And finally I made little, small figures with the flower hats and caps, and that’s how the gumnuts started. In my books, I must tell you, I did all the writing myself – as well as the pictures, of course – but I couldn’t spell so other people had to spell for me. Lot of fun, isn’t it? I thought to myself, “I’ll make the pictures first, and write the stories round them, because the pictures will sell the book.” The stories just rolled out of me; I had plenty of them, and no trouble at all. The first books that I ever did were the flower books, or the Boronia Babies, Wattle Babies, Gumnut Babies, and I think another baby – Flannel Flower Babies, yes.

And they were such a success that that started me off on the books in another way; the same sort of books. I always had an absolute love for the underwater; things that were right down. Used to look into the clear water from the boats that I was – we used to do a lot of boating in Perth, we were always on the water – and one day I thought how lovely it would be to have a little town under the water. I’ve got lots of ideas, even now. You can’t help having ideas, can you.

Curators/Speakers

May Gibbs

Topic Title

Gumnut Babies and other ideas