Pamela Rushby was born in Queensland, Australia, more years ago than she cares to divulge.
She has worked in advertising, as a pre-school teacher, and a freelance writer. She was a writer and producer of educational television, audio and multimedia for the Queensland Department of Education for 16 years, and now freelances in children’s and young adult fiction and non-fiction; scriptwriting; and multimedia writing/designing.
Pam is a registered teacher.
Pam has written:
Books (and associated talks and workshops)
Over 250 titles for trade and educational publishers. Many have historical backgrounds, based on fascinating, little-known historical events. Pam gives talks on the historical backgrounds of these novels, with PowerPoints featuring archival photographs. Many have publishers’ teachers’ notes available. These include:
When the Hipchicks Went to War
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) The background story of sixteen-year-old girls who travelled to Vietnam as song-and-dance entertainers during the Vietnam War.
The Horses Didn’t Come Home
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) Australia sent 160,000 horses overseas during World War 1. Only one ever came back. The story of Australia’s war horses, the walers.
Flora’s War
(Secondary, adult) How Cairo was overwhelmed with wounded from Gallipoli during World War 1. The story of the volunteers who cared for them, and the very makeshift hospitals they worked in.
The Ratcatcher’s Daughter
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) 1900, and the plague, the Black Death, arrives in Queensland. 13-year-old Issy becomes a very reluctant rat catcher.
Sing a Rebel Song
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) 1891, and Australia comes scarily close to outright civil war. The story of the Shearers’ Strike in western Queensland, and the start of the Labor Party.
The Secret Battle
(Upper primary, secondary, adults) In 1942, over two days, Australian and American servicemen fought each other, rioting in the streets of Brisbane. Then the Battle of Brisbane was totally hushed-up. Why? And why were Japanese Zeros commonly seen flying over Brisbane?
The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle
(Primary, lower secondary) Adventures on the Nile. Mummy unwrapping tea parties. And – an activity where students learn to write their name in hieroglyphs.
The Mud Puddlers
(Primary, lower secondary, adult) The history of mud larking on the Thames. What may happen if you wonder about an item from the past for too long … Includes real finds from the Thames, and an activity where students ‘lucky dip’ from a bag of simulated mud larking finds, and write or draw about them.
Those Girls
(Upper secondary, adult) In 1942, 7000 young women joined the Australian Women’s Land Army, working on farms and properties through the country, doing all the work men had done – many of them only 16 years old and weighing 7 stone wringing wet. This is the story of those girls with grit.
Pam has also written: children’s television scripts, short stories and freelance journalism.
Other Workshops and Talks under separate tab.
Awards
Literature Board of the Australia Council grant to work on archaeological excavations in Egypt and Jordan for research for a children’s novel.
Churchill Fellowship to study educational television at TVOntario, Canada
Two Arts Queensland grants to write young adult historical novels
Nine Notable Books in CBCA awards
Nance Donkin Award for children’s writer
Lots of long-listings and short-listings –
and a bag of gold coins at a film festival in Iran!
How a Book is Made
(Lower primary) From the first spark of an initial idea to the first scarily-messy draft, to edited text. Finally, the completed book! With examples of original, scarily messy first drafts, first and second proofs, illustration roughs and finished art.
Mummies, mystery and magic
(Primary) Learn why – and how – the ancient Egyptians mummified people – and animals. See replicas of a mummified hand and cat – and a genuine mummified rat! Learn to write your name in hieroglyphs – and why you should always, always say a mummy’s name out loud. (Pam’s books on Egypt include Walking the Fields of the Blessed; Everything Egypt; The King of Egypt; Sone by Stone, Say My Name; Millions of Mummies; The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle)
How to write sizzling first sentences
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) When a reader picks up your work, you’ve got about 15 seconds to keep them reading. This hands-on workshop outlines why sizzling first sentences are so important – and suggest eight effective ways of writing them.
Writing historical fiction
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) How to take an incredible historical moment and develop it into a gripping historical story. Participants work together to develop the outline of a historical story.
How nine questions - and three little pigs – can help you structure your story
(Upper primary, secondary, adult) A practical workshop that assists writers to structure a story with a fine-tuned beginning, middle and end, based on an easy-to-use framework. Includes set-up, place and time, main characters, action, obstacles, conflict, climax and outcome.
Slaying the dreaded synopsis
If there’s anything that makes a writer turn pale, it’s having to write a synopsis. You’ll learn a formula to do it in this workshop. Yes, you can slay the beast – and produce a synopsis that will make your story sing.
Testimonials
Pamela is soft spoken and an engaging speaker. She is a fabulous storyteller. Pamela had the students enthralled with her stories, which demonstrated the amount of research she has conducted in writing her stories.
St Stephen's Catholic College - March 2019Pamela's visit was very well received by our girls. The PowerPoint presentations and worksheets she used to accompany her workshops with our year 8 and 10 girls were engaging and useful for the girls when thinking about how to successfully structure a story.
I would thoroughly recommend Pamela for an author visit to other schools, particularly all girls' schools as many of her novels deal with females as the main protagonists.
Pamela Rushby - Mary MacKillop College, August, 2014.
Those Girls
The Mud Puddlers
Interned
The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle
Lizzie and Margaret Rose
The Ratcatcher's Daughter
Flora's War
Circles of Stone
When the Hipchicks Went to War
The Horses Didn't Come Home
Queensland
Speaker type
- Author
- Memoir Writing
Links
Featured Speakers
Stop Press
Choose Your Own Adventure!
To tie in with the 2025 Book Week theme, ‘Book an Adventure’, Dave Lowe has adapted his popular ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ workshop, as a ‘presentation’-style 45- / 60-minute session for large groups of students, from Years 3 to 8. In this fun, highly-interactive session, Dave will share insights into ideas-generation and plotting, and give each student a story template, as well as all the tips and tricks they’ll need to make their own short ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’-style book that they can take home and try out on friends and family.
New Releases See all books
Touring Speakers See all tour dates
| Speaker | Location | Tour dates | Book now |
|---|---|---|---|
Melbourne | 25 Jun - 27 Jun 2025 | ||
Newcastle | 01 Jul - 02 Jul 2025 | ||
Gold Coast / Brisbane | 14 Jul - 24 Jul 2025 | ||
Brisbane / Gold Coast | 22 Jul - 25 Jul 2025 | ||
Brisbane | 23 Jul - 25 Jul 2025 |
What people are saying
Marco's visit to Terrace was very successful. He engaged and entertained the boys at a voluntary lunchtime workshop, sharing stories and delivering poems. He then spoke to all of the Year 5 and 6 boys during class. This was very well received by the boys and they were enthralled with his poetry performances. The interactive poetry performance, where students were involved, was a highlight. These sessions with Marco gave the boys a positive attitude towards poetry.
Sarah was insightful and inclusive with participants and created a safe atmosphere for people to be revealing about their memoirs. I would have loved this workshop to go for two days or at least one! It gave me ideas and I loved the chance to do some writing. It was interesting to hear the memoir ideas from other people and to connect with them, even if very briefly.
Angela was so engaging and generous with students. Students and teachers alike came out singing her praises and were grateful for the time spent in her workshops. Our Year 5 & 6 students even ignored the bell (a Herculean feat) to continue their session into their lunch break. Such a good communicator. A fabulous choice and we will be ordering any of her books in the future.
Fantastic connection to the students, very easy going and such a humble man.
Andrew King absolutely wonderful!!! What a lovely man. The kids loved him. And I’ve had some very positive feedback from teachers. He’s a keeper!
Thank you so much for suggesting Martin Chatterton. He was an absolute delight to host for the day, and thoroughly captivated his audiences by carefully tailoring his sessions to suit the various class groups. His presentation was professional, entertaining, fast moving, and enlightening. His mode of delivery was humorous and cheerful. He had a wonderful manner with the boys, with an easy and laid back style. Many boys engaged in conversation with him after the sessions to discuss his work in [...]
We love having Cameron here every year. He always makes the lessons interesting. Some of our new teachers commented on how he kept even our largest group of senior students engaged and interested for the whole session. The children see him as someone really special and look forward to his visits.
Engaged from start to finish - Not a lot of people can hold a crowd for 8 hours but Rachal, you did this with your usual style and professionalism, Thank you for stretching me and getting me out of my comfort zone.
Sarah came and read her fantastic book “Meowster Chef” with our whole school during our Literacy Week, November 2022. Sarah not only engaged each group, but organised a cooking activity for after the reading, which the students loved. Our school is a Special Developmental school, which Sarah hadn’t attended before, so she generously gave up her time to walk around the school and chat with me about how to best engage with our students – amazing!! We all loved having Sarah attend our school and [...]
Karen was wonderful - generous with her time and full of honest wisdom about writing and the creative life. She gave hope to the emerging creators in our community, encouraging them to continue even when things feel tough.