Celebrated author Colleen McCullough described as 'overweight' and 'plain' in obituary

Australians have taken to Twitter to criticise an obituary for the author, who died yesterday at the age of 77.

Author Colleen McCullough poses for photographs in Sydney, Monday, Oct. 17, 2005.

Social media users have slammed an obituary of Colleen McCullough as "sexist", "insensitive" and "revolting" for describing the internationally acclaimed Australian author as a person of "wit and warmth" despite being "plain" and "certainly overweight".

The popular writer, best known for her work The Thornbirds, which sold 30 million copies worldwide, died yesterday in a Norfolk Island hospital.

She was 77.

The obituary, published in The Australian, described the author as "plain of feature, and certainly overweight" who was "nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth."

But social media users have expressed dismay and outrage that the broadsheet chose to open its oibituary by focussing on the author's physical attributes.