Lillian Pyke

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 in Melbourne.^[1]

Pyke worked as a teacher and journalist prior to her marriage.^[2] She married Richard Dimond Pyke on 7 April 1906^[3] and the couple moved to near Gympie, Queensland, where he was an accountant for railway construction.^[4] They had three children before his death by suicide in December 1914.^[5][6] 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.^[7]

Pyke took her children to Melbourne where she took up writing again to support the family.^[2] She is credited with translating the first Australian novel into Esperanto.^[8]

Pyke died in hospital at Brighton, Victoria on 31 August 1927^[9] and was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.^[2] She had been suffering from chronic renal disease. She was survived by her two daughters and son.^[10]

• Pyke, Lillian M. (1919), Camp kiddies: a story of life on railway construction, The Specialty Press^[11]
• Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Brothers of the fleet, Sutcliffe, Norman (illustrator), Ward Lock
• Pyke, Lillian M. (1924), Squirmy and bubbles: a school story for girls, Clark, Perce (illustrator), Whitcombe & Tombs^[12]

• Pyke, Lillian M. (1926), Three bachelor girls, Ward, Lock