Meet the Woolcots: 'Seven Little Australians' Quiz

Answer: Helen

The Woolcot family live in Sydney, near the Parramatta River, in a house nicknamed 'Misrule'; they had lived in the Captain's barracks originally, but had to leave after the other officers got sick of the children's bad behaviour. Meg is 16, Pip is 14, Judy is 13, Nell (real name Elinor) is 10, Bunty (real name John) is 6, Baby (real name Winifred) is 4, and the General - the half-brother of the other children - is a baby. Judy's real name is actually Helen, but nobody calls her that, save the Captain when she is in trouble. Bunty reckons that Judy got her nickname because she is always 'popping and jerking herself about' like the wife of Mr Punch. Pip also calls her 'Fizz' because she has a lively personality that fizzes like ginger ale, and is often the one who comes up with pranks.

Answer: Cut the grass

The children go down to ask the Captain for roast fowl while he is entertaining guests, and as punishment, he will not take the children to the pantomime. Pip asks him for help with his maths homework, Meg mends his songbooks, Judy cuts the grass with a scythe (and the Captain worries she might chop her own legs off), Nell brings him mulberries and milk for lunch (neither of which he likes) and Baby washes the kittens and Flibbertigibbet, the Captain's terrier.

Unfortunately, Bunty ruins everything when he comes up with the bright idea of polishing the Captain's buttons, spurs and shoes, and spills polish over his uniform.

The Captain catches Bunty and beats him, and Bunty blurts out that the others were only behaving themselves in the hope of going to the pantomime.

The Captain responds by giving away the tickets to another family, the Digby-Smiths.

Answer: They take the General to the Captain's barracks.

Pip and Judy take the dogcart into town to drop the Captain's dress uniform off at the barracks, as he needs it for a dinner that night. Judy takes the General with her, and on the way they meet a colonel who is a friend of the family and gives them some pocket money.

They decide to spend it on a day out at Bondi Aquarium and Judy leaves the General at the barracks to get back at the Captain for making them miss the pantomime. When they come back to the barracks, they hear a couple of soldiers laughing about Captain Woolcot finding the baby and having to call a taxi to take him home. Both Judy and Pip realise they are in serious trouble and sure enough, when they get home, the Captain beats Pip and tells Judy that she will be going to boarding school in Victoria (he had originally planned to send all six of his children with his first wife to boarding school when he married Esther, but she refused to let him).

The other children are devastated and even Esther pleads with the Captain not to make her go, but he refuses to listen.

Answer: Her waist

Aldith has three older sisters and gets the boat to her French lessons with Meg. She is a toxic influence on Meg and the other Woolcots hate her, but Meg takes her seriously and starts reading beauty magazines, changing the way she does her hair and trying to get rid of her freckles. Aldith puts pressure on Meg to make her waist smaller and wear a tight corset, which begins to make Meg ill, makes digs at her clothes for being dowdy and unfashionable, and insists on calling her 'Marguerite' because Meg's name is not pretty enough.

The situation is not helped by the absence of Judy, who would have laughed her out of it. A group of boys also take the boat and one of them, James Graham, flirts with Aldith.

Answer: No

Aldith goads Meg into coming on the walk with them, although Meg has reservations. She writes a letter to Andrew, asking if they can go out later when it gets dark, with a postscript asking him not to kiss her, and gets his sister Flossie to deliver the letter when she comes over to play with Nell.

She also sends Aldith a letter via Bunty, and Aldith sends a reply saying she is too ill to come out, but Bunty loses it and lies to Meg that Aldith is going to come. Unfortunately for Meg, she addresses her letter to 'Mr Courtney' and Flossie gives it to Alan, Andrew's brother (who Meg has a crush on), by mistake. Bunty tries to confess to Meg that he lied, but she ignores him and gets a shock when Alan turns up instead of Andrew. Alan makes fun of Meg at first, but stops when he realises she is upset and tells her to stay away from Aldith.

The two shake hands and Meg goes home, where the Captain is entertaining. He orders her to sing and play for his guests, but she faints while playing the piano and one of the guests, a doctor, says her corset is making her ill. Esther is upset, feeling she has failed as a stepmother.

Answer: Bunty

Bunty accidentally lames Mazeppa, one of his father's horses, with a cricket ball and runs away to hide in a shed after denying all knowledge. He hears a noise that he thinks is rats, but it is actually Judy, who has run away from school. She has walked most of the way, stopping at the occasional cottage to ask for food and shelter, and has lost a lot of weight.

The school owners think she is staying with a friend, Marian, in Katoomba. Meg is still in bed, Baby is at the Courtneys', and Nell and Pip have gone fishing. Bunty goes to the kitchen to steal food for Judy, getting scratched by thorns and beaten by the Captain when Martha, the cook, spots him.

When Bunty returns with the food, Judy is delirious and Bunty goes to get Meg, running into Pip and Nell on the way.

When they find Judy in the shed, Pip steals more food for her and Judy tells them that she plans to stay for a week and then go back.

Answer: She coughs up blood.

The Captain sees Bunty and questions him, thinking he is up to mischief. Bunty inadvertently admits that he lamed Mazeppa and the Captain whips him, and then sends him to his room when he finds out Judy is back and the others are at the picnic. He finds food scraps and furniture in the shed and takes Esther and the General to the picnic - Judy sees them coming and narrowly escapes - and notices the atmosphere is tense.

When they go home, he has all the children sit down and then goes out to the shed, on the pretext of having a smoke, where he finds Judy sleeping.

When she wakes up, the Captain threatens to send her back to school within an hour and not allow her home for the holidays. Judy has a serious coughing fit and the Captain notices she is thinner than usual, but it is when she coughs up blood that he realises something is wrong.

Answer: Yarrahapinni

Judy has suffered lung damage as a result of being on the run and sleeping outside, and the doctor recommends a change of environment. The Captain considers sending Meg, Judy and Esther to the mountains, but it is too expensive and the other children need supervision. Mrs Hassal writes to Esther, inviting her to come and visit the ranch at Yarrahapinni (spelled as 'Yarrahappini' in the book) and bring the children.

The whole family, save for the Captain, end up going and are exhausted after a long and arduous train journey, but enjoy living out in the country.

The children are given a tour of the ranch and allowed to ride the horses. Pip shoots rabbits and joins in with herding the cows. Esther goes to a ball and the children have a picnic at Krangi-Bahtoo, under the supervision of Mr Gillet, the storekeeper, whom Judy befriends. Mr Gillet also takes a liking to Meg, as she reminds him of his dead little sister.

She is repulsed when she finds out he is an alcoholic, but feels guilty when he begs her not to grow hard, and gives him her hair ribbon as a keepsake.

Answer: True

Tettawonga is a grumpy old Aboriginal stockman who lives at the ranch and had previously saved the Hassals from bandits. In the original book, when the children are having the picnic at Krangi-Bahtoo, Mr Gillet tells them an Aboriginal legend that he had heard from Tettawonga, and talks about the old days of Australia, before it was colonised by white Europeans. 'Tettawonga's Story' was removed from the 1897 republished version and all subsequent editions until the centenary edition of the book in 1994. Opinions are divided as to why it was removed; suggestions include publishers not wanting to portray the darker side of Australia's history, and the section being removed to free up advertising space in the 1897 version, as it was considered to be a digression and therefore could be removed without majorly affecting the plot.

Answer: Judy

Judy sees the General toddling towards a falling gum tree and throws herself on top of him, saving his life but breaking her back in the process. The injury proves to be fatal, though Judy lives long enough to say her goodbyes to her siblings. Nell prays frantically, Meg sings 'Abide With Me' to her and Pip arrives just in time to see Judy smile for the last time before she dies.

The Captain journeys out to Yarrahapinni and Judy is buried near the cottage. Meg and Nell go to church when they come back and Meg sees Aldith in the congregation, but no longer wants anything to do with her. Alan Courtney is also at the church and the two agree to be friends forever (in fact, they are married in a later book, 'Little Mother Meg'). Pip has depressive episodes and Bunty starts getting over his habit of lying, having a vision of Judy whenever he feels like telling a lie.

The Captain is no longer able to smoke at the side veranda where the lawn is, as it reminds him too much of Judy. The family also show the General even more affection, as Judy died saving him.