Elyne Mitchell
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Elyne Mitchell OAM |
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|---|---|
| Born |
30 December 1913 Melbourne, Victoria |
| Died | 4 March 2002 (aged 88) Corryong, Victoria |
| Occupation | Writer, cattlewoman, champion skier |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | St Catherine's School, Toorak |
| Genres | Children's, non-fiction |
| Subject | Australian Alps |
| Notable works | Silver Brumby series |
| Notable awards | Medal of the Order of Australia |
| Spouse | Thomas Walter Mitchell (1935-1984, his death) |
| Children |
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| Relatives |
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Sybil Elyne Keith Mitchell, OAM (née Chauvel, 30 December 1913 – 4 March 2002) was an Australian author noted for the Silver Brumby series of children's novels. Her nonfiction works draw on family history and culture.
Elyne Mitchell was the daughter of General Sir Henry George (Harry) Chauvel, who was the commander of the ANZAC Mounted Division Light Horse and Desert Mounted Corps in World War I famous for the charge at Beersheba.
She was educated at St Catherine's School, Toorak. She married lawyer, and later parliamentarian, Thomas Walter Mitchell in 1935 and moved with him to the Snowy Mountains. He taught her to ski, and they had four children - Indi, Walter Harry, Honor and John. Elyne Mitchell was a keen skier and horsewoman - in 1938 she won the Canadian downhill skiing championship, and according to Tom Wright, in 1941 she became the first woman to descend on skis the entire western face of the Snowy Mountains.
During World War II Thomas enlisted in the 2nd A.I.F. and was posted to the 8th Division in Singapore where was captured by the Japanese. Elyne ran the property by herself until her husband's return at the end of the war.
Her novels describe eastern Australian terrain and wildlife in considerable detail. She was part of a wave of nationalist Australian writing that gathered strength in the late 1930s and 1940s and her work is generally described as having a landscape aesthetic. Although the horses and other animals in her books speak to each other, they are not anthropomorphic and particularly in the first two Silver Brumby books, otherwise behave naturally.
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