Perhaps the best known cultural reference to Banksia is the "big bad Banksia men" of May Gibbs' children's book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
Although Banksia attenuata was the common banksia in Australian children's author May Gibbs' own childhood in Western Australia, the old flower spikes of Banksia aemula with their large follicles are thought to have been the inspiration for the villains of her Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books, the "Big Bad Banksia Men".
Both this species and B. aemula have been credited with the inspiration behind May Gibbs' Big Bad Banksia Men; this species was familiar to Gibbs in her childhood and likely gave her the initial inspiration, although the depictions resemble the latter species.
Gibbs bequeathed the copyright from the designs of her bush characters and her stories to Northcott Disability Services (formerly The NSW Society for Crippled Children) and Cerebral Palsy Alliance (formerly The Spastic Centre of NSW).
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In 1913 she returned to Australia, and took up residence at Nutcote, in Neutral Bay, in Sydney, New South Wales.
Montrose was home to the museum of the Australian author, May Gibbs, creator of the Gumnut Babies.
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