Gunn, Jeannie (1870-1961), was an Australian writer who became famous for her novels based on her life and experience in the Northern Territory in the early 1900’s. Her best-known book is We of the Never-Never (1908), a novel set in the Northern Territory before most people had easy access to the interior of Australia. The book is filled with colorful characters and has become one of the most popular novels in Australian literature. The Little Black Princess (1905) is the story of an Aboriginal girl, Bett-Bett.
Gunn was born Jeannie Taylor on June 5, 1870 in Carlton, Melbourne. She and her sister established a private school in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. In 1901, she married Aeneas Gunn, manager of Elsey station on the Roper River in the Northern Territory. Later in life, Gunn won praise for her social work, especially aiding the children of soldiers. She died on June 9, 1961.
