From Tehani
Wessely
I sometimes feel as if I’m living multiple
lives, as I have many roles to play. I’m a mum, a teacher librarian, a reader,
a literary judge, a Doctor Who fan, a friend, and, at some times more than
others, a publisher too. Right now, being a publisher is taking up lots of my
life, as we’re on a steamroll month during March, crowdfunding for the Cranky Ladies of History anthology
[http://www.pozible.com/crankyladies]. It’s Women’s History Month, and we’ve
been receiving attention on social media
and in the mainstream news
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-07/women-raise-funds-for-cranky-ladies-of-history-anthology/5305846]
as well, which is fantastic for the project! We’re lucky enough to have amazing
authors connected with the anthology, such as Jane Yolen, Garth Nix, Carol Ann
Martin (writing as Ann Martin), Lauren Beukes, Pat Cadigan and many more.
Tasmanian writer and historian Dr Tansy Rayner Roberts [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/599287.Tansy_Rayner_Roberts]
is on board as my co-editor, and we’ve been having an absolute ball learning
about some astonishing “cranky” ladies of history for the project. While the
crowdfunding in March is an important thing for us, so too is our Cranky Ladies
blog tour
[http://fablecroft.com.au/about/publications/cranky-ladies-of-history/cranky-ladies-of-history-blog-tour],
to which any fan of a cranky lady of history can contribute. And today, CBCA
has kindly let me post about some brilliant Australian cranky ladies* who you
may have heard of: our children’s book authors!
Australia has a rich heritage of fabulous female
writers, and although some may not have been born here, and some may have gone
elsewhere during their lives, they are all beloved in our literary history. And
some of them led the most astonishing lives!
Perhaps it is appropriate to start with someone
whose name will be well known to CBCA members. EVE POWNALL, born in Sydney in
1902 as Marjorie Evelyn Sheridan, started writing early, and worked for Fox
Films and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Ltd before marrying Leslie Pownall at age
27. I particularly like this paragraph from Jan Roberts’ biography of Eve
[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/pownall-marjorie-evelyn-eve-15495]:
Encouraged by
Leslie, Eve became a meticulous researcher and prolific writer. The range of
her publications was remarkable: risqué comics and short
stories written during the war years, a ghost-written sex manual, books about
pioneer women, histories of Australian exploration, settlement and development
for adults and children, stories in the State Department of Education’s School Magazine, reviews and editorial
works. Her first major work was a social history for children, The Australia Book (1952), which
was illustrated by her friend Margaret Senior and was named by the Children’s
Book Council as best book of the year.
Just imagine – risqué comics and a sex manual,
in the first half of the 20th Century! Eve was very involved in the
formation of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and was strongly
interested in the role of women and children in remote areas, travelling to the
outback and writing about this many times, including a book called Australian Pioneer
Women, which is of particular interest to us at Cranky
Ladies!
Another fascinating writer of history is
CHARLOTTE BARTON, credited with being the author of Australia’s first published
children’s book,
A Mother's Offering to Her Children, in 1846.
Barton was a feminist who worked as a governess for several years, choosing to
emigrate from England for a position in Australia at 30 years of age. While she
did commence employment, she soon left to marry James Atkinson shortly after,
with whom she had four children, before he died in 1834, “leaving her to manage
a large holding, run far-flung outstations, control convict labour in a
district beset by bushranging gangs and care for her children.”
[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-charlotte-12787] Her remarriage in 1836
to George Bruce Barton opened a plethora of legal issues for Charlotte, leading
to many years of trouble, especially after she eventually fled the family home
due to the drunken and violent nature of her second husband.
Throughout this, Charlotte educated her
children, fostered their own artistic talents, and maintained a close-knit
family unit. I like this final quote from Patricia Clarke’s biography
[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barton-charlotte-12787]:
“Fiercely independent, though an abused wife and sole parent she succeeded in
challenging the male-dominated legal system.” Her status
as Australia’s first known children’s book author may be unknown by many, but
was recently brought out of the shadows in Belinda Murrell’s novel The River Charm, which tells some of the
story. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16087466-the-river-charm]
The recent film, Saving Mr Banks, might have perhaps gone a bit too far in
portraying the crankiness of PL TRAVERS, but she certainly deserves a place on
our list! Born Helen Lyndon Goff in 1899, she who became P.L. Travers and
author of one of the best known children’s stories of modern times came from
Maryborough in Queensland. Although already writing from an early age, at 17
Travers took herself to Sydney to pursue a career on the stage. She experienced
some success, but supplemented her income by working as a journalist. However,
she decided that Australia was not the place for her, and moved to England in
her late 20s, where while recuperating from a long illness, she wrote Mary Poppins, which was published in
1934. Most readers will know the journey of the book to the screen, where it
still holds a special place in the hearts of successive generations.
She later wrote extensively on mysticism and the occult, as well as examining myth
and fairy tales. Much of Travers’ reputation for crankiness stems from
the process of the Mary Poppins film
being produced, but regardless of how much truth there is in that, she was a
formidable type who achieved exactly what she set out to.
HESBA FAY BRINSMEAD is relevant
to CBCA and Tasmania, as she won the 1965 and 1972 Book of the Year award, and
both lived and wrote about the state at various times. With a late start to
education, and a somewhat dysfunctional family life, Brinsmead’s work explored
many issues still relevant today, including the environment, indigenous areas and the need for
their conservation, the effect of ecological damage, the plight of refugees and
societies disaffected, and the human cost of resource development, as well as
family issues. As with many female writers, Brinsmead found time to write
around everyday life, husband and children, and did so splendidly.
Other cranky ladies you might like to look into
include:
& MAY
GIBBS, who spent her childhood exploring the bush on her family’s Western
Australian property, then studied art in England for several years, before
returning to Australia and working as an illustrator. Her iconic gumnut babies
and anthropomorphised bush stories are still beloved (and sometimes imitated)
today.
& RUTH
PARK, who worked as a journalist for a time before becoming a freelance writer
for radio and print, a bold move that took her a long way!
& First
published at age 14 (there’s certainly a trend of these writers starting
young!), MAVIS THORPE CLARK became a prolific author for children and later
adults, and held the enviable position of never receiving a rejection for her
work! The Min Min was the CBCA Book
of the Year in 1967, but is just one of many novels she published.
& Perhaps
one of Australia’s most classic children’s books, Seven Little Australians, was written by ETHEL TURNER, who started
out publishing with her sister at school. She wrote and edited extensively
while raising a family but during World War I, also organized ambulance and
first aid courses, and campaigned for conscription. Refusing to sugar-coat the
Australian lifestyle in her writing, Turner continued to shine a light on the
diversity of Australian culture through her work.
* Important note: we define “cranky” as someone
who bucked the
trends of their time and took on cultural norms to challenge society's rules
and ideas about how women should behave.
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