Gibbs, May, 1877-1969.

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie : their adventures wonderful / pictures & words by May Gibbs. (Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1940)

Born in 1877 in Surrey, Cecilia May Ossoli Kelly emigrated to Australia with her family when she was four. She notes that, “I could almost draw before I could walk.” After studying art during a series of periods in London, she returned to Australia in 1913. Gibbs was Australia’s first full-time, professionally trained children’s book illustrator. In 1913 she created the gumnut babies, stating of the inspiration:

When I stayed with my cousins in the Bush, I amused myself and them by telling stories about the little people I imagined to be there. They always took the form of sturdy, common-sense little persons living the same practical busy lives as ants and other intelligent bush creatures. Never did I find the elegant star-browed fairies that my old-world books showed me. The bush suggested always things grotesque, mirthful, cunning and quaint. Even the flowers held an e ccentric charm for me rather than an appeal by their beauty. (Woman’s World, 1 Nov 1924).

In 1918 her most famous creations, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie came into being. “I thought of the name Snugglepot for a book on bush babies but I could not get another name. I wanted two, and one night, lying in bed quietly, I thought Snugglepot…Cuddlepie!” The adventures of the two half-brothers were published shortly after Armistice in 1918.

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