 "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" follows the "Times" obituarist in accepting her own claim that she was born at sea in 1896 but there is no birth certificate to support this, and she can not be found in the 1901 or 1911 British census listings.The article "Newcastle Girl is Film Writer" ("Newcastle Morning Herald", 20 June 1939, p. 6) reports that Evadne Price/Helen Zenna Smith was born in Merewether and attended the Junction School in Merewether.In July 1902 Eva Price obtained a bursary at the Maitland High School and in 1903 she attended the Largs Public School near Maitland.