Studio portrait of Ivy (left) and Ethel Lucy, daughters of William and Edith Lucy.

Ethel Lucy, together with her sisters Ivy Nelson, Ida Stocker, Kath Ireland and brother W Everard Lucy donated to the State Library in the 1970s and 1980s a collection of books, toys and games that had belonged to them and to their parents before them.

The family lived at Modbury from 1873 until 1938. They went to school at Modbury Primary School and helped on the farm before and after school. They rarely visited Adelaide because of the distance but their father William Everard Lucy would occasionally bring home a toy or a game when he visited the city. The clockwork toys were played with only on special occasions.

As Ivy recalls 'we could read only when the jobs were completed and we had washed our hands--but not on Sundays'. (Bayfield, p. 3)

Lucy, Ivy, b.1893

Lucy, Ethel, 1898-1981

Bayfield, Juliana. The Lucy Collection children's books and games of the nineteenth century, [Adelaide: The Library], 1984

Ireland, Cecil. Lucy and Everard families in South Australia, [West Lakes, S. Aust.: C. Ireland, 1993?]

State Library of South Australia: Children's Literature Research Collection. The Lucy Collection

State Library of South Australia: Treasures of the State Library. Clockwork toys: crocodile