Charlotte Waring Atkinson was Australia's first children's author.
Under the pen name of 'A Lady Long Resident in New South Wales', she wrote and illustrated A Mother's Offering to Her Children in 1841.
Charlotte's life was characterised by dramatic shifts in fortune.
Before writing her landmark book, she fell in love at sea, lost her husband young, was brutalised by bushrangers, and became a penniless single mother who took her fight to the Supreme Court.
Growing up, author and fairytale specialist, Kate Forysth, was enchanted by stories of her distant forebear, Charlotte, and the grand sandstone house in which she'd once lived.
Romance and mystery swirled around her great-great-great-great-grandmother's life in Regency England and colonial New South Wales.
So Kate and her sister Belinda Murrell (also an established author) decided to co-write a book about Charlotte.
They found the truth about her was even more interesting, and uncovered a resourceful, gutsy and inspiring woman.
Further information
First broadcast November 2020
Searching for Charlotte is published by the National Library of Australia