by Elizabeth Lhuede

A post in our 2025 series featuring works published in 1935 (or by authors who died in 1935). Seasons greetings as we take a break until 2026 when former AWW editor, Theresa Smith, will rejoin our team.

This year, we explored out-of-copyright works by Australian women published ninety years ago. Whispering Gums (WG) wrote about Ruby M Doyle, Nancy Francis, Gertrude Mack, Tarella Quiin Daskein and Edna Davies. I featured poems by Ivy Moore, Mary House, and Joan Marguerite Stevens. Our guest, Francie Finn, showcased M Burkinshaw’s story, Not An Ordinary Woman, which featured on her podcast, Firestarters. The third and final episode of Firestarters has just landed, and looks at Australian women writers from the 1920s and 30s. In the episode, Francie gives an excellent reading of Grace Ethyl Martyr’s short story, The Blue Jar, which WG featured in July last year.

In keeping with the season, today’s post features two poems by Madeleine Honey, each titled “Christmas Bush”, both published in December 1935. Born Lucy Madeleine Board in 1886 and the step-niece of Ethel Turner, the author was married to William Henry Honey, publisher of the journal, Youth, which she edited. Like her better known and more prolific aunt, Honey also edited children’s pages in newspapers, under the pseudonym, “Aunt Roberta”.

A post by “Rowena” on a family history blog of the Turner family gives us a more comprehensive glimpse into her life and works:

Lucy “Madeleine” Board was born in 1886 to parents Lucy Turner and Thomas Board, an accountant. She had an older brother, Thomas (1885) and a younger sister, Gladys (1891)…. Lucy Turner was Ethel’s step-sister who accompanied the family out to Australia. So, she has no genetic relationship to Ethel Turner and older sister Lillian, although she is a half-sister to Jeanie Rose, the youngest of the “three little maids”.

It appears that Madeleine’s literary efforts were first recognised in 1901 when she was awarded a Highly Commended in a writing competition in the Sun newspaper. She was 15 at the time and attending Paddington Superior Public School (which Ethel Turner had also attended…) 1. On the 20th September, 1903 Madeleine won First Prize, Senior Division, Political Essay Competition; subject, Sir Edmund Barton in the Sunday Times 2. On Sunday 13th November, 1904 she had a small essay published in the Sunday Times about the nature of conceit 3. She also had a number of good short stories published, including: “An Artist’s Picture” which won 1st prize in a Sunday Times story writing competition in 1905 4. In 1906, she was awarded a Gold Medal for her essay: “The Greatest Need of New South Wales”, which she saw as increased population, but along restricted lines 5.  In 1924, Madeleine married William Henry Honey. In 1926, she had a children’s book: Little Boo accepted by Ward, Lock and Co., who published Seven Little Australians.

Although the AustLit database lists only three of Madeleine Honey’s works, all fiction, Trove contains several of her juvenile works, as well as over twenty poems and short stories appearing under her married name, mostly published in The Sydney Morning Herald. Beginning on 20 June 1930, her novel Little Boo was serialised in the journal, Australian Childhood, published by her husband and illustrated by Joan Morrison. It is available at the State Library of NSW.

Honey died in April 1942 and there appears to have been no obituary.

Christmas Bush (two poems)
by Madeleine Honey (1886-1942)