# Lillian Pyke > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lillian_Pyke > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Lillian_Pyke.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Pyke > Source revision: 1322251999 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Australian children's writer and novelist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}{{Use Australian English|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox writer | name = Lillian Pyke | pseudonym = Erica Maxwell | birth_name = Lillian Maxwell Heath | children = 3, including [Lawrence Richard Dimond Pyke](/source/Lawrence_Pyke) | relatives = [John Richard Pyke](/source/John_Pyke) (grandson) | genre = {{Cslist|Children's fiction|novelist}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1881|08|25|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1927|08|31|1881|08|25|df=y}} | birth_place = [Port Fairy](/source/Port_Fairy), Victoria, Australia | death_place = [Brighton](/source/Brighton%2C_Victoria), Victoria, Australia | image = Lillian Maxwell Pyke.jpg | caption = Pyke in 1924 }} '''Lillian Maxwell Pyke''' (25 August 1881 – 31 August 1927) was an Australian children's writer who also wrote adult novels using the pseudonym '''Erica Maxwell'''. == Biography == Pyke was born Lillian Maxwell Heath, the tenth child of Robert Mosely and Susannah Ellen Heath (née Wilson). She was educated at [University High School](/source/University_High_School%2C_Melbourne) in [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne).{{cite news|date=1 September 1927|title=Mrs Lillian M. Pyke|page=14|newspaper=[The Argus (Melbourne)](/source/The_Argus_(Melbourne))|issue=25,291|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3876371|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} Pyke worked as a teacher and journalist prior to her marriage.{{Citation|last=Kingston|first=Beverley|title=Pyke, Lillian Maxwell (1881–1927)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pyke-lillian-maxwell-13161|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|place=Canberra|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|language=en|access-date=2021-09-30}} She married Richard Dimond Pyke on 7 April 1906{{cite news|date=28 April 1906|title=Family Notices|volume=LXII|page=4|newspaper=[The Brisbane Courier](/source/The_Courier-Mail)|issue=15,068|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19447117|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} and the couple moved to near [Gympie, Queensland](/source/Gympie%2C_Queensland), where he was an accountant for railway construction.{{Cite web|last=|title=Lillian M. Pyke|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A13548|access-date=2021-09-30|website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|language=en}} They had three children before his death by suicide in December 1914.{{Citation |last=Kingston |first=Beverley |title=Lillian Maxwell Pyke (1881–1927) |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pyke-lillian-maxwell-13161 |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |access-date=2023-11-07 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}{{cite news|date=5 December 1914|title=Family Notices|page=7|newspaper=[The Age](/source/The_Age)|issue=18,631|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190668195|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} He had been suffering from depression and had a breakdown at the end of an investigation into the relationship between him and fellow staff members, but there was no evidence of financial mismanagement.{{cite news|date=15 December 1914|title=Magisterial Inquiry|volume=XLVII|page=5|newspaper=[Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette](/source/The_Gympie_Times)|issue=7315|location=Queensland, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190871065|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} Pyke took her children to Melbourne where she took up writing again to support the family. She is credited with translating the first [Australian novel](/source/Australian_literature) into [Esperanto](/source/Esperanto).{{Cite news |date=1930-06-11 |title=FIRST NOVEL IN ESPERANTO |work=World's News |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131491651 |access-date=2023-11-07}} Pyke died in hospital at [Brighton](/source/Brighton%2C_Victoria), Victoria on 31 August 1927{{cite news|date=1 September 1927|title=Family Notices|page=1|newspaper=[The Argus (Melbourne)](/source/The_Argus_(Melbourne))|issue=25,291|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3876358|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} and was buried in [Box Hill Cemetery](/source/Box_Hill_Cemetery). She had been suffering from chronic renal disease. She was survived by her two daughters and son.{{cite news|date=1 September 1927|title=Death of an Australian Authoress|page=9|newspaper=[The Age](/source/The_Age)|issue=22,591|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205784778|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} == Works == * {{Citation|author1=Pyke|first=Lillian M.|title=Camp kiddies: a story of life on railway construction|publication-date=1919|publisher=The Specialty Press}}{{cite news|date=22 November 1919|title=Ladies Letter|volume=LI|page=35|newspaper=Advocate, Melbourne|issue=2461|location=Victoria, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170949689|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=30 September 2021}} * {{Citation|author1=Pyke|first=Lillian M.|title=Brothers of the fleet|publication-date=1924|others=Sutcliffe, Norman (illustrator)|publisher=Ward Lock}} * {{Citation|author1=Pyke|first=Lillian M.|title=Squirmy and bubbles: a school story for girls|publication-date=1924|others=Clark, Perce (illustrator)|publisher=Whitcombe & Tombs}}{{Cite web|last=Austlit|title=Squirmy and Bubbles : A School Story for Girls {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C395259|access-date=2021-09-30|website=www.austlit.edu.au|language=en}} * {{Citation|author1=Pyke|first=Lillian M.|title=Three bachelor girls|publication-date=1926|publisher=Ward, Lock}} == References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Pyke, Lillian}} Category:1881 births Category:1927 deaths Category:Australian children's writers Category:20th-century Australian women writers Category:People educated at University High School, Melbourne --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lillian Pyke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Pyke) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Pyke?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.