Colin Thiele

Colin Milton Thiele AC (/ˌtiːˈliː/; 16 November 1920 – 4 September 2006) was an Australian author and educator. He was renowned for his award-winning children's fiction, most notably the novels Storm Boy, Blue Fin, the Sun on the Stubble series, and February Dragon.

Thiele was born in Eudunda in South Australia to a Barossa German family. The young Colin only spoke German until he went to school in Julia Creek. He was educated at several country schools including Kapunda High School before studying at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1941. He later taught in high schools and colleges. He became principal of Wattle Park Teachers College in 1965, principal of Murray Park CAE in 1973, and director of the Wattle Park Teachers Centre until his retirement in 1980.

Thiele enlisted in the Australian Army in December 1940, and was posted to the 18th Light Horse (Machine Gun) as a private. He transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in July 1942, serving out the remainder of the war as a corporal posted to Air Defence Headquarters, Higgins Field, at the tip of the Cape York Peninsula.

He started teaching at Robertstown South Australia, before war service. His first post war teaching post was Port Lincoln, where he wrote his first book, a geography textbook due to frustration with the available textbooks.

Thiele wrote more than 100 books, which often described life in rural Australia, particularly the Eudunda, Barossa Valley, and Murray River/Coorong regions of South Australia. Several of his books have been made into films or television series, including Sun on the Stubble, The Fire in the Stone, Blue Fin and Storm Boy.

In 1977 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, then the second highest level of the order, for his services to literature and education.

Thiele suffered from severe arthritis from 1955 and in his later years left South Australia to settle in warmer conditions near Dayboro, Queensland.

On 4 September 2006 Thiele died from heart failure in a Brisbane hospital, aged 85. He was survived by his wife, Rhonda, two children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Media coverage of his death was minimal, as he died on the same day as Australian media personality Steve Irwin.

Can I Call You Colin, an authorised biography by Stephany Evans Steggall, was published in March 2004.

The Thiele Library at the Magill campus of the University of South Australia was named after him many years before his death.

The Senior Student Library which is shared by Golden Grove High School, Pedare Christian College and Gleeson College is named after and was officially opened by him on 10 May 1989.

The road designated Highway B81 between the start of Highway A32 Main North Road just north of Gawler, and Morgan on the Murray River and passing through Kapunda and Eudunda, is named the Thiele Highway after him.

The Secondary House Thiele at Matthew Flinders Anglican College is named in his honour.

• 1977 Companion of the Order of Australia
• 1997 Dromkeen Medal
• 2001 Centenary Medal