Mary Grant Bruce was born in Victoria, Australia, and died in Sussex. She won the Shakespeare Society’s annual prize several times, having started writing at the age of 7, with an epic on a mad Tsar.  She then started work as a journalist, continuing to write articles for magazines while she wrote her books.  Her publications were many, but her best known series was the Billabong books.  The series stretched to 15 titles, starting with A Little Bush Maid in 1910.  This first appeared as a serial in the Leader, and with it, the Linton family was launched.  Its publication by Ward Lock in London also saw her change of name, Mary being regarded more saleable than Minnie.

Although Mary Grant Bruce’s own sister-in-law, Lady Evelyn Seton, wrote a denunciation of the books and advised Mary to cut herself free from them, she carried on.  The Lintons had become part of Australian national life, and part of how they saw themselves.  

“The Lintons' world, threatened from outside, withstood challenge, unchanged and untarnished. Australians, and not only children, looking at Billabong, could see themselves as they wanted to be — mates in fortune and adversity, sturdy, decent and fearless inheritors of a tough, but rewarding land.” (Lynne Strahan)

The books were influential:  Auslit says:  “Scholars have argued that Bruce's depiction of the bush in her popular series and other books had an enormous impact on the way white Australians viewed their relationship with the land.”

In later editions, the Billabong books have been edited:  some of their views and assumptions are no longer considered acceptable.

Mary Grant Bruce married an English man, George Bruce and the family moved between Europe and Australia several times.  After visiting England in 1954, 5 years after the death of her husband, Mary Grant Bruce decided to stay, and died in Sussex in 1958.

Sources and links
Austlit
Australian Dictionary of Biography (entry by Lynne Strahan)
Australian Women: biographical entry
More on the Billabong series
Three (at the time of writing) Billabong books are on Project Gutenberg (A Little Bush Maid, Mates at Billabong, Back to Billabong)
A Little Bush Maid & Mates at Billabong: online (you see the illustrations online on this one)

The Billabong Series

A Little Bush Maid, 1910
Mates at Billabong, 1912
Norah of Billabong, 1913
From Billabong to London, 1914
Jim and Wally, 1915
Captain Jim, 1916
Back to Billabong, 1919
Billabong's Daughter, 1924
Billabong Adventurers, 1928
Bill of Billabong, 1933
Wings Above Billabong, 1935
Billabong Gold, 1937
Son of Billabong, 1939
Billabong Riders, 1942

Mary (Minnie) Grant Bruce (1878-1958)

A Little Bush Maid
1910

“In this story we first make the acquaintance of those beloved Billabong characters, Norah, Jim, Wally and Co. This
is the starting point, and since this story first appeared fourteen more delightful books have been written, during which
time the characters have grown up and become involved in many vivid adventures and experiences.  Norah is the true
open air bush girl who, without mother or sister, naturally becomes companion of her brother Jim and his school-friends.
As regards the latter, well, boys will be boys.”

Mates at Billabong
1912

~

Norah of Billabong
1913

From Billabong to London

~

Jim and Wally
1915

“David Linton and his daugher Norah, who were in London in order to be near Jim and Wally - serving with the
British Army in France - heard that the boys had been gassed and were returning to England. They met them
and decided that when they were better and discharged from hospital, they would all go for a quiet holiday in
Ireland, the home country of the Linton's mother. There they met Sir John O'Neill, and their holiday took a very
unexpected turn.”

Captain Jim

‘"If I do fall, I am leaving you that place of mine in Surrey."  It is 1916 and the dark days of World War One
drag on. Both Jim and Wally are returning to the Front line when Norah discovers she has been left a legacy
- a large house complete with stables and its own farm in the Surrey countryside. Her initial reaction of dismay
soon changes when Norah realises that she can help with the war effort, and together with her father, they
turn "Homewood" into a house for wounded and exhausted civilians. When a telegram arrives with the worst
news of all, Norah and her father somehow mange to keep going - until the day that brings a miracle into
their lives.’

Back to Billabong

“David Linton and his daugher Norah, who were in London in order to be near Jim and Wally - serving with the
British Army in France - heard that the boys had been gassed and were returning to England. They met them
and decided that when they were better and discharged from hospital, they would all go for a quiet holiday in
Ireland, the home country of the Linton's mother. There they met Sir John O'Neill, and their holiday took a very
unexpected turn.”

Billabong’s Daughter

~

Billabong Adventurers

Bill of Billabong

Billabong’s Luck

~

Wings Above Billabong

Billabong Gold

Son of Billabong

Billabong Riders

Bibliography - Pony Books Only