Brinsmead, Hesba Fay (1922-2003), was a leading Australian writer of fiction for children and young adults. Most of her characters are teenagers faced with problems resulting from class prejudice or racism. Her fiction is set in both rural and urban Australia. Brinsmead won both the Mary Gilmore prize and the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award for her first novel, Pastures of the Blue Crane (1964). The book is set in a New South Wales rural community. Its plot is mainly concerned with racism as the young heroine discovers she is partly of Torres Strait Islander ancestry.
Brinsmead is best known for her “Longtime” series, based on her experiences growing up in a remote part of the Blue Mountains. The series consists of Longtime Passing (1971), Once There Was a Swagman (1979), Longtime Dreaming (1982), and Christmas at Longtime (1984). Her love of the bush (Australia’s remote countryside) also led her to become a pioneer in writing about environmental issues. For example, A Sapphire for September (1967) deals with a battle against land developers. Isle of the Sea Horse (1969) looks at the threats to Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef from increased tourism.
Brinsmead was born Hesba Fay Hungerford on March 15, 1922, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. She sometimes published stories under the name Pixie Hungerford. She married Reginald Brinsmead in 1943. She became a full-time writer in 1960. Brinsmead’s other works include Season of the Briar (1965), Beat of the City (1966), High Dive (1977), and Time for Tarquinea (1980). Brinsmead died in Murwillumbah on Nov. 24, 2003.
