Nan Chauncy
Nan Chauncy | |
---|---|
Nan Chauncy, c.1950 | |
Born | Nancen Beryl Masterman (1900-05-28)28 May 1900 Northwood, Middlesex, England |
Died | 1 May 1970(1970-05-01) (aged 69) Bagdad, Tasmania, Australia |
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | British Australian |
Period | 1948–1969 |
Genre | Children's literature |
Spouse | Helmut Anton Rosenfeld (1938–1970) |
Children | Heather Chauncy |
Nan Chauncy (28 May 1900 – 1 May 1970) was a British-born Australian children's writer.
Early life
Chauncy was born Nancen Beryl Masterman in Northwood, Middlesex (now in London), and emigrated to Tasmania, Australia, with her family in 1912, when her engineer father was offered a job with the Hobart City Council. She attended St Michael's Collegiate School in Hobart. In 1914, the family moved to the rural community of Bagdad, where they grew apple trees. The bush setting of Bagdad, including a bushranger's cave, would inspire some of her future writing, and also a lifelong involvement with the Australian Girl Guides movement. Initially organising Guide meetings and camps at her brother's Bagdad property, Chauncy started her own Guide troop in Claremont where she worked as a women's welfare officer at the Cadbury's Chocolate Factory from 1925.[1]
European travels
Chauncy returned to England in 1930, where she trained as a Girl Guide at Foxlease House in Lyndhurst, Hampshire. She also studied and practiced writing, while living on a houseboat on the River Thames. In 1934, she travelled to Sweden, Finland and the Soviet Union, and taught winter classes in English language at a Girl Guide school in Denmark.[1]
While returning by ship to Australia in 1938, she met a German refugee named Helmut Anton Rosenfeld, and the couple married at Lara, Victoria, on 13 September. They lived in Bagdad and changed their surname to Chauncy, the name of Nan's maternal grandmother, to avoid anti-German sentiment during World War II.[1]
Death and legacy
Chauncy died of cancer at her home on 1 May 1970, aged 69. Her husband and daughter donated the family property, "Chauncy Vale", to the Brighton Council before being transferred to Southern Midlands Council for use as a nature reserve.[1]
Books
- They Found a Cave (1947)
- World's End was Home (1952)
- A Fortune for the Brave (1954)
- Tiger in the Bush (1957)
- Devil's Hill (1958)
- Tangara (1960)
- Half a World Away (1962)
- The Secret Friends (1962)
- The Roaring 40 (1963)
- High and Haunted Island (1964)
- The Skewbald Pony (1965)
- Mathinna's People (1967)
- Lizzie's Lights (1968)
- The Lighthouse Keeper's Son (1969)
Chauncy had fourteen novels published during her lifetime, twelve of which were published by Oxford University Press. Several were translated to other languages, and some were published under different titles in the USA.
Adaptations
Two of Chauncy's novels have been adapted for the screen. Directed by Charles Wolnizer and featuring an all-Tasmanian cast, the 1962 feature film They Found a Cave was adapted from her novel of the same name. The film held its world premiere at the Odeon Theatre, Hobart on December 20, 1962.[2][3] The film was very successful at a time when the Australian film industry was in a lull, and it won the prize for Best Children's Film at the Venice Film Festival.[4]
In 1988, the Australian Children's Television Foundation and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced an anthology of television films from each of Australia's states and territories, to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary. The Tasmanian contribution was Devil's Hill, an adaptation of Chauncy's novel.
Awards and honours
Chauncy won the Children's Book of the Year award three times: in 1958 for Tiger in the Bush, in 1959 for Devils' Hill, and in 1961 for Tangara. The Roaring 40 was Highly Commended in 1964, with High and Haunted Island and Mathinna's People Commended in 1965 and 1968 respectively.[5]
She was the first Australian to win a Hans Christian Andersen Award diploma of merit.[4]
The Children's Book Council of Australia presents the Nan Chauncy Award to recognise outstanding contribution to the field of children's literature in Australia. The award was presented every five years from 1983 to 1998, and every two years after that.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d Berenice Eastman, 'Chauncy, Nancen Beryl (Nan) (1900–1970)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 408–409.
- ^ Pike, Andrew; Cooper, Ross (1980). Australian Film 1900-1977 (1998 ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press. p. 232. ISBN 0-19-550784-3.
- ^ "They Found a Cave". Oz Movies. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ a b Nan Chauncy Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Significant Tasmanian Women (Tasmanian Government).
- ^ Winners and Commended Books 1960 – 1969, Children's Book Council of Australia.
- ^ CBCA Awards Archived 23 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Children's Book Council of Australia.
External links
- Nan Chauncy at IMDb
- They Found a Cave (1962) at IMDb
- Touch the Sun: Devil's Hill (1988) (TV) at IMDb
- Touch the Sun – Devil's Hill at Australian Screen
- Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary
- Nan Chauncy at AUSTLIT.edu.au (largely for subscribers only)
- Nan Chauncy at Library of Congress, with 13 library catalogue records (previous page of browse report, under 'Chauncy, Nan' without '1900–1970')
- v
- t
- e
- The Story of Karrawingi the Emu by Leslie Rees (1946)
- Shackleton's Argonauts: A Saga of the Antarctic Icepacks by Frank Hurley (1948)
- Whalers of the Midnight Sun by Alan Villiers (1950)
- Verity of Sydney Town by Ruth C. Williams (1951)
- The Australia Book by Eve Pownall (1952)
- Aircraft of Today and Tomorrow by James H. Martin & W. D. Martin (1953)
- Good Luck to the Rider by Joan Phipson (1953)
- Australian Legendary Tales by K. Langloh Parker (1954)
- The First Walkabout by Norman B. Tindale and Harold Arthur Lindsay (1955)
- The Crooked Snake by Patricia Wrightson (1956)
- The Boomerang Book of Legendary Tales edited by Enid Moodie Heddle (1957)
- Tiger in the Bush by Nan Chauncy (1958)
- Devil's Hill by Nan Chauncy (1959)
- Sea Menace by John Gunn (1959)
- All the Proud Tribesmen by Kylie Tennant (1960)
- Tangara by Nan Chauncy (1961)
- The Racketty Street Gang by L. H. Evers (1962)
- Rafferty Rides a Winner by Joan Woodberry (1962)
- The Family Conspiracy by Joan Phipson (1963)
- The Green Laurel by Eleanor Spence (1964)
- Pastures of the Blue Crane by H. F. Brinsmead (1965)
- Ash Road by Ivan Southall (1966)
- The Min-Min by Mavis Thorpe Clark (1967)
- To the Wild Sky by Ivan Southall (1968)
- When Jays Fly to Barbmo by Margaret Balderson (1969)
- Uhu by Annette Macarthur-Onslow (1970)
- Bread and Honey by Ivan Southall (1971)
- Longtime Passing by H. F. Brinsmead (1972)
- Family at the Lookout by Noreen Shelley (1973)
- The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson (1974)
- Fly West by Ivan Southall (1976)
- The October Child by Eleanor Spence (1977)
- The Ice is Coming by Patricia Wrightson (1978)
- The Plum-Rain Scroll by Ruth Manly (1979)
- Displaced Person by Lee Harding (1980)
- Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park (1981)
- The Valley Between by Colin Thiele (1982)
- Master of the Grove by Victor Kelleher (1983)
- A Little Fear by Patricia Wrightson (1984)
- The True Story of Lilli Stubeck by James Aldridge (1985)
- The Green Wind by Thurley Fowler (1986)
- All We Know by Simon French (1987)
- So Much to Tell You by John Marsden (1988)
- Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein (1989)
- Came Back to Show You I Could Fly by Robin Klein (1990)
- Strange Objects by Gary Crew (1991)
- The House Guest by Eleanor Nilsson (1992)
- Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta (1993)
- The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody (1994)
- Angel's Gate by Gary Crew (1995)
- Foxspell by Gillian Rubinstein (1995)
- Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks (1996)
- A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove by James Moloney (1997)
- Eye to Eye by Catherine Jinks (1998)
- Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne (1999)
- 48 Shades of Brown by Nick Earls (2000)
- Wolf on the Fold by Judith Clarke (2001)
- Forest by Sonya Hartnett (2002)
- The Messenger by Markus Zusak (2003)
- Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (2004)
- The Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer (2005)
- The Story of Tom Brennan by J. C. Burke (2006)
- Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan (2007)
- The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett (2008)
- Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (2009)
- Jarvis 24 by David Metzenthen (2010)
- The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (2011)
- The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner (2012)
- Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (2013)
- Wildlife by Fiona Wood (2014)
- The Protected by Claire Zorn (2015)
- Cloudwish by Fiona Wood (2016)
- One Would Think The Deep by Claire Zorn (2017)
- Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood And Simmone Howell (2018)
- Between Us by Clare Atkins (2019)
- This is How We Change the Ending by Vikki Wakefield (2020)
- The End of the World Is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (2021)
- Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim (2022)
- Neverlanders by Tom Taylor (2023)
- Grace Notes by Karen Comer (2024)
- Picture Book (1955–present)
- Early Childhood (2001–present)
- Younger Readers (1982–present)
- Eve Pownall Award for Information Books (1988–present)