It was originally published in the UK by Ward, Lock & Co. in 1900, and subsequently serialised in the Australian Town and Country Journal between July and October 1900 in 26 instalments.
They are forced for a time to live in great stress in an inland town in New South Wales in juxtaposition to an Australian family, composed of an engrossed father, a weak mother, and five rough boys.
"[3] Following the book's initial publication by Ward, Lock & Co. in 1900 it was subsequently published as follows:[1] A reviewer in The Daily Telegraph from Sydney was impressed with the book: "'Three Little Maids' (Ward, Lock, and Co.), which we have from William Dymock, is Ethel Turner's latest romance of youth, and assuredly one of the most pleasing and piquant chronicles of the wonderland of girlhood that has been yet published.
The value of such tales as this is in what each chapter brings forth of delight and sorrow, of hope, wonder, aspiration, and adventure to the little people; of their progress through flowers and thorn thickets towards the enlightenment, and too often the sadness, of adult life.
Miss Turner's place among those who write of children with sympathy, in sight, and especial charm has already been firmly established.