Crabbe, Kay

Kay began her writing career with feature articles for newspapers and lifestyle magazines before moving into writing educational material for children. Her work in schools with reluctant readers spanned twenty-six years and prompts her to write history simply. Her interest in history was fostered when commissioned to write Patch Parker: Son of a Convict, now a recommended resource by the History Teachers' Association of Australia. Research into lesser-known history took her to Torres Strait and the tumultuous time of Federation. Other of her works feature animals and the environment, including the non-fiction book Introduced Species in Australia commended in the Whitley Awards by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Kay grew up in Sydney and moved with her husband and children to remote areas of Tasmania and Western Australia before settling in Far North Queensland, where two spectacular environments meet: the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef.;