54 AWW.COM.AUAUGUST 2017
RUSSELL SHAKESPEARE/NEWSPIX. GETTY IMAGES.Col dearly. We were friends for 40
years and I believe in my heart the
will she signed in [July] 2014 was the
correct one. It was widely known that
she wanted to make a large bequest
to the university, to create a space or
library or a scholarship in her name.
She communicated this to me, to the
university and to many others, and I
will honour what I believe is right.”
Heart of gold
Colleen McCullough – Col as those
closest to her called her – was the
undisputedqueen of Australian
publishing. Her first manuscript
Timwas published by
Harper & Row in 1974
and became an instant
best-seller. Her second
novel,The Thorn Birds,
proved it wasn’t a fluke.
The paperback rights forThe
Thorn Birdssold at auction for
US$1.9 million, a world record at
the time, and the book went on to
smash every publishing record ever
set. It has remained in continuous
print since it was first published.
“She was so significant. She was one
of the biggest figures in the literary
world and an absolute trailblazer for
women and Australian writers,” says
Shona Martyn. “She wasn’t just huge
in Australia – she was one of the first
to really make it on the world stage.”
Colleen’s path to literary fame and
fortune was an unconventional one
because she made her name in science
before turning to writing. The diligent
schoolgirl planned to become a doctor,
but instead studied neurophysiology
at the University of Sydney. Colleen
impressed her lecturers so much, she
was sent to the UK, then the US to
further her work, where was offered
a place at Yale University, to take upa role expanding the university’s
research lab.
Described as a polymath, she taught
neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and
neurological electronics, and called
the US home for 14 years before
eventually returning to Australia.
Her academic achievements were
widely lauded, but at the time, female
scientists were paid about half what
their male colleagues were. So Colleen,
who had proudly declared she wanted
to be a “lifelong, dedicated spinster”
and who was conscious about her
financial security during old age,
decided confidently that she would
write a best-seller. And she did.“She had the biggest
laugh and biggest heart.”
By 1980,Timwas a box-office
hit movie starring Mel Gibson,The
Thorn Birdsbecame a TV mini-series
in 1983 and Colleen was a household
name. She retreated to a new home
on Norfolk Island, where she met
painter Ric Robinson, who she had
commissioned to freshen up her walls.
She was smitten with the strapping
Norfolk Islander, who is
13 years her junior and
a descendant of Bounty
mutineers. “He was six
foot three and drop-dead
gorgeous!” she enthused.
They married in 1984 and built
their dream home, a sweeping white
weatherboard mansion, Out Yenna
(Out Yonder in Norfolk). “It’s big,”
she boasted, “but so am I!”
The home is open to the public and
fans of the author wander through the
fern-lined conservatory where she
would host wild dinner parties, the
purple ‘‘scriptorium”, as she called
her office, and the grand foyer with
towering gold columns and bold
Florence Broadhurst wallpaper.
“Col did nothing by halves,” says
Selwa Anthony, who isn’t a beneficiary
of the will and will receive no personalFROM ABOVE: Colleen in
her “scriptorium”, where
she wrote her books on a
typewriter; her multiple
copies ofThe Thorn Birds;
Colleen in the garden of her
Norfolk Island home in 1990.