Nan Chauncy
Encyclopedia
Nan Chauncy was a British
-born Australia
n author of children's books
.
, England
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.
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
.
While returning by ship to Australia in 1938, she met a German
refugee named Helmut Anton Rosenfeld, and the pair married at Lara
in Victoria
on 13 September. The couple lived in Bagdad, changing their surname to Chauncy (the name of Nan's maternal grandmother) to avoid anti-German sentiment caused by World War II
.
at her home on 1 May 1970, aged 69. Her husband and daughter donated the family property, "Chauncy Vale", to the Southern Midlands Council for use as a nature reserve.
Chauncy had fourteen novels published during her lifetime, the first twelve of which were published by Oxford University Press
.
.
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.
She was the first Australian to win a Hans Christian Andersen Award
diploma of merit.
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.
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n author of children's books
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
.
Early life
Chauncy was born Nancen Beryl Masterman in Northwood, MiddlesexMiddlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and emigrated to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with her family in 1912, when her engineer father was offered a job with the Hobart City Council
City of Hobart
The City of Hobart is a Local Government Area of Tasmania, Australia. It is one of three local government areas covering the metropolitan area of the state capital, Hobart.-Government:...
. She attended St Michael's Collegiate School
St Michael's Collegiate School
St Michael's Collegiate School, colloquially known as "Collegiate", is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia....
in Hobart. In 1914, the family moved to the rural community of Bagdad
Bagdad, Tasmania
Bagdad is a small town north of Hobart, Tasmania. It is located in the Southern Midlands Council.In the days of the horse and buggy, Bagdad was an important rest area and horse-changing place for those continuing their journey up Constitution Hill...
, where they grew apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
trees. The bush setting of Bagdad, including a bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
's cave, would inspire some of her future writing, and also a lifelong involvement with the Australian Girl Guides
Guides Australia
Girl Guides Australia is the national Guiding organisation in Australia. It provides a girls only space and its mission is to enable girls and young women to grow into confident, self respecting members of the community. Membership is open to all girls and young women from all cultures, faiths and...
movement. Initially organising Guide meetings and camps at her brother's Bagdad property, Chauncy started her own Guide troop in Claremont
Claremont, Tasmania
Claremont is a suburb of the City of Glenorchy, part of the greater Hobart area, Tasmania, Australia. It is named after Claremont House, which was built in the 1830s by local settler Henry Bilton, who named it after one of the royal homes of England. Claremont was the home of an Army training...
where she worked as a women's welfare officer at the Cadbury's Chocolate Factory
Cadbury's Chocolate Factory, Tasmania
Cadbury's Chocolate Factory is a working chocolate factory belonging to the Australian division of international confectionery company Cadbury Schweppes, and is located in Claremont, Tasmania, Australia....
from 1925.
European travels
Chauncy returned to England in 1930, where she trained in girl guidingGirlguiding UK
Girlguiding UK is the national Guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. Guiding began in the UK in 1910 after Robert Baden-Powell asked his sister Agnes to start a group especially for girls that would be run along similar lines to Scouting for Boys. The Guide Association was a founder member of...
at Foxlease House
Foxlease
Foxlease is a training and activity centre of Girlguiding UK near Lyndhurst, Hampshire, UK. The Foxlease estate has been owned and managed by Girlguiding UK since 1922. The estate is and main house is known as The Princess Mary House, in honour of her marriage...
in Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Lyndhurst is a village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It is a popular tourist location with many independent shops, art galleries, cafés, restaurants, pubs and hotels. The nearest city is Southampton located around nine miles to the north-east...
. She also studied and practiced writing, while living on a houseboat
Houseboat
A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...
on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. In 1934, she travelled to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and taught winter classes in English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
at a girl guide school in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
While returning by ship to Australia in 1938, she met a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
refugee named Helmut Anton Rosenfeld, and the pair married at Lara
Lara, Victoria
Lara is a residential rural suburb, 15 km north-east of Geelong, inland from the Princes Freeway to Melbourne.- History :The explorers Hume and Hovell arrived at Lara on December 16, 1824, believing that they had reached Westernport Bay...
in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
on 13 September. The couple lived in Bagdad, changing their surname to Chauncy (the name of Nan's maternal grandmother) to avoid anti-German sentiment caused by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Death and legacy
Chauncy died of cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at her home on 1 May 1970, aged 69. Her husband and daughter donated the family property, "Chauncy Vale", to the Southern Midlands Council for use as a nature reserve.
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 (1961)
- The Secret Friends (1962)
- Half a World Away (1962)
- The Roaring 40 (1963)
- High and Haunted Island (1964)
- The Skewbald Pony (1965)
- Hunted in Their Own Land (1967)
- Mathinna's People (1967)
- Lizzie's Lights (1968)
- The Lighthouse Keeper's Son (1969)
Chauncy had fourteen novels published during her lifetime, the first twelve of which were published by Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
.
Adaptations
Two of Chauncy's novels have been adapted for the screen. Her first novel, They Found A Cave, was made into a feature film released in 1962, directed by Charles Wolnizer and featuring an all-Tasmanian cast. 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 FestivalVenice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
.
In 1988, the Australian Children's Television Foundation
Australian Children's Television Foundation
The Australian Children's Television Foundation is a non-profit, government-funded organisation in Australia concerned with the development, production, dissemination and promotion of children's television and other audio-visual material for children....
and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
produced an anthology of television films from each of Australia's states and territories, to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary
Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
. The Tasmanian contribution was Devil's Hill
Touch the Sun (Australian TV series)
Touch the Sun was a television series commissioned by the Australian Children's Television Foundation in 1988 as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. It may have been intended that seven feature-length episodes were produced, one for each State, plus the Northern Territory, but only six...
, 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 Devil's 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.She was the first Australian to win a Hans Christian Andersen Award
Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
diploma of merit.
The Children’s Book Council of Australia presents the Nan Chauncy Award
Nan Chauncy Award
The Nan Chauncy Award was initially established as a quinquennial awards and is now presented biennially in the Children's Book Council Awards.The award was established to honour Nan Chauncy, who is recognised as a significant Tasmanian author....
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.
External links
- Touch the Sun – Devil's Hill at Australian Screen
- Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary