Renowned 'Thorn Birds' author dies

Sydney

TRIBUTES for renowned Australian author Colleen McCullough, whose romantic saga The Thorn Birds sold more than 30 million copies, poured in on Friday from the publishing world to politics following her death at the age of 77.

The best-selling writer, known for her wit and warmth, died in hospital on the remote Pacific outcrop of Norfolk Island where she lived for most of the last four decades, after suffering a series of small strokes. Prime Minister Tony Abbott described her as "a unique Australian personality and Norfolk Island's most famous resident".