Colleen McCullough Biography

Fast Facts

• Was awarded an Order of Australia for her "service to the arts and to the community․"
• Studied medicine at the University of Sydney, although she couldn't become a doctor because she was allergic to surgical soap
• Published her first novel, "Tim," in 1974, which was later made into a film that starred a young Mel Gibson
• Taught herself to read by the age of 3 and once spent money that her mother had given her for a coat on a typewriter
• Worked as a neuroscientist in Sydney and as a researcher at Yale Medical School for 10 years before becoming a writer
• Best known as the author of "The Thorn Birds," "An Indecent Obsession" and the "Masters of Rome" series
• Was the portrait subject of Wesley Walters' entry for the Archibald Prize