The picture gallery, c.1921

May Gibbs Bush characters

Gumnut Babies

May Gibbs was Australia’s first full-time, professionally trained children’s book illustrator. In 1916, the first of five gumnut babies booklets, which she wrote and illustrated, was published. These booklets, featuring beautifully executed drawings of fanciful Australian bush creatures, were seized upon by the Australian public and popularised as patriotic keepsakes sent to Australian troops overseas during World War I.

Her best known and most successful work, Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, was published in 1918. This is the original drawing for an illustration in a sequel book, Little Obelia and further adventures of Ragged Blossom, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, published in 1921.

By the 1920s, Gibbs’s gumnut babies featured on a wide variety of objects including badges, handkerchiefs, bookmarks, fabric, calendars and postcards.

Her gumnut characters continue to be popular today. Her home `Nutcote’ still stands in Neutral Bay. The house and gardens are open to the public.
Display item The picture gallery, c.1921

 

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