Colleen McCullough fans in arms over 'sexist' obituary about Thorn Birds author describes her as 'plain' and 'overweight'

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You’d think penning the highest-selling novel in Australian history would have shielded Colleen McCullough from crude comments on her aesthetics. Posthumously, at least.

But fans of the celebrated author were left outraged by a detailed obituary published in her honour by the Australian newspaper on Thursday.

The Thorn Birds writer, who died aged 77 on Wednesday, was described as “plain of feature” and “certainly overweight.”

The remarks prompted a number of followers on Twitter to point out that the Australian had overlooked her notable career of huge accomplishments, including teaching at Yale Medical School and selling 30million books:

Then came the birth of the #MyOzObituary hashtag, in which followers tweeted their own sexist, looks-based life stories:

A trend and fitting tribute that would no doubt have amused McCullough.