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Kylie Tennant talks about how she came to write her collection of children’s plays.
Curator’s notes
Rodd was devoted to education, and was both a teacher and an active participant in theoretical debates until his retirement in 1960. But throughout his career he remained a driving force behind Tennant’s writing. He was her adviser and typist and influenced both her choice of subject matter and her approach. Tennant followed Rodd to his various teaching postings around New South Wales.
In 1941, after Tennant had just finished Ride On Stranger, Rodd was transferred to Laurieton Public School where he was principal until 1953. It was a settled and productive period, with the birth of their two children, Benison in 1946 and John (‘Bim’) in 1951, and Tennant completing Time Enough Later, Lost Haven, The Joyful Condemned and Australia: Her Story. It was also when she wrote most of her renowned children’s plays. In this clip she talks about how she wrote the plays ‘to order’ for Roddy’s students at Laurieton PS, and how being a new mother affected her desire to write.
