Atkinson eventually wrote about all of these topics, as well as the gold rushes of the 1850s, the advent of large-scale sheep and cattle farming, and the native plants, animals, and birds of Australia.
As a child, Atkinson was greatly interested in nature, an interest encouraged by her mother. Charlotte, who was an artist and the author of the first children's book both written and published in Australia. The book was titled A Mother's Offering to Her Children (1841). Her father also set an example. He wrote An Account of the State of Agriculture and Grazing in New South Wales, a handbook for English people who wanted to emigrate to Australia.
Childhood
Atkinson's father died just two months after she was born, and her mother took over the management of the family estate. This job was made more difficult by the lack of law and order in the district. Once, while riding to a remote sheep station, she and George Bruce Barton, the estate's superintendent, were held up by bushrangers. Charlotte evidently decided that the situation was too difficult for a woman alone, and in 1836 she married Barton.
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