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Colleen McCullough, the internationally famous Australian author, has died in hospital on Norfolk Island. She was 77.
McCullough worked as a neuroscientist in the United States before turning to writing full-time. The Thorn Birds, a romantic Australian saga published in 1977, became a worldwide bestseller and a popular mini-series in 1983.
McCullough's best-seller The Thorn Birds.
The paperback rights for The Thorn Birds, McCullough's second novel, were sold at auction for a then record $US1.9 million.
Her 25 novels included a deeply researched series set in Ancient Rome, which won her the admiration of readers including former NSW Premier Bob Carr and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives.
McCullough has lived there for most of the past 40 years married Norfolk Islander Ric Robinson in 1983.
She died on Thursday afternoon after suffering a series of small strokes. She had lost her sight from macular degeneration and was restricted to a wheelchair.
She published her final book, the novel Bittersweet, in 2013.
RIP
You have given so much pleasure to so many and will be sorely missed.
Now you will write for the angels.
