Heritage Festival 2026: Ethel Turner-Inspiring Change

Overview:

Join us to celebrate Ethel Turner’s literary legacy and the lasting inspiration of her remarkable life and works.

The Woodlands House-Friends of Ethel Turner Society is glad to continue hosting our fifth national event with the theme of "Ethel Turner-Inspiring Change". Ethel Turner, one of Australia’s greatest authors, as remarked by Mark Twain, is well-known for her masterpiece-Seven Little Australians, which has been in continuous prints for over 130 years, and is truly an icon of women empowerment, self-determination, and perseverance.

 The Woodlands House-Friends of Ethel Turner Society is delighted to welcome your companionship in celebrating, honouring, discovering and beholding this Australian icon as our learning approach to the notion of "Change" that she demonstrated in her whole life-time, and explore what change she will do in ours!

Save the Date!

As a part of the Ku-ring-gai Heritage Festival 2026, The Woodlands House would like to welcome you to join us in exploring the work-life journey of Ethel Turner and her timeless influence of inspiring change on generations of residents in Australia through her self-determination, persistence, independence, and her remarkable career journey from being rejected to the achievement of prestigious recognition.

This is a free-entrance event, and we are open for registration until 17 May 2026.

With a string of inspiring guest speakers, who will accompany you in the exploration of the rare and evolutionary soul of Ethel Turner, and the discovery of the contrast from today how extreme restrictions and prejudices were on women in the Victorian era, delving into the mind of an Australian great author and an icon of women’s empowerment, self-determination, and perseverance.

• Join our Festival Tours where you will stand at the very spot where Ethel Turner lived and wrote over 130 years ago.
• Be witness to exhibitions of women’s fashion with displays of original apparel from the Victorian period. Experience "goose-bump" moments when walking through the halls and rooms of notable historical seismic-shifts.
• Be immersed and surrounded by authentic period objects, spaces, and atmosphere that traverses cross-generational boundaries in all its beauty and majesty filled with love, inspiration, and appreciation. Most of all, expect to be awe-struck learning about of this unassuming, diminutive Australian by the name of Ethel Turner.

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Host or Publisher The Woodlands House-Friends of Ethel Turner Society