A slight bias towards eels and lizards

Abstract

Ella May McFadyen was a hardy woman, with a kind smile, pince-nez glasses and the musical voice of a skilled storyteller. Only fifteen when she began her career as a writer, the young Sydneysider recognised her vocation early. “There was something that I had to do,” she recalled in 1972. “I had to write.” Passionate and independent, she pursued an extraordinary career as a writer, editor and reviewer, driven by a lifelong love of nature and a delight in the magic of childhood.