There is little doubt that the close bond between mother and daughter, the cultured lifestyle of her parents and the society in which she was raised helped Curlewis to develop into a highly literate, socially aware and articulate young woman.

One of her early literary mentors was the poet, Dorothea Mackellar, who encouraged her writing of poetry and who, after Jean's death, wrote an article for Art in Australia in which she labelled Curlewis as 'the best kind of Australian' because of her clear-sightedness, her sense of style and force of emotion.

Like her illustrious mother Curlewis began her literary career early in life, becoming involved when only eighteen with her Aunt Lilian in writing 'legends and native stuff' for a new children's magazine planned for the Mirror.

Primarily a storyteller, though she lacked her mother's ability to create comic situations, Jean Curlewis wrote in her short life four quite different novels which despite their inherent philosophical exploration are light-hearted and never 'earnest'.

But the title also refers to a recurring theme in her stories, for 'the ship that never set sail' is a symbol, in that first novel, of youth's romantic idealism forced to come to terms with the realities of life and the pressures of society.