AustLit logo
NLA image of person
Nan Chauncy Nan Chauncy i(A30675 works by) (birth name: Nancen Beryl Masterman) (a.k.a. Nan Rosenfeld)
Born: Established: 28 May 1900 Northwood, Middlesex,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 1 May 1970 Bagdad, Southern Midlands, Midlands, Tasmania,
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 1912
Heritage: English
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

At the age of twelve Nan Chauncy moved to Tasmania with her family, setting up an orchard now called Chauncy Vale. She was heavily involved with the Girl Guides and taught English at a Danish Girl Guide finishing school during the 1920s and 1930s. While teaching English she began to write and after her return to Australia in 1938 she worked as a scriptwriter for the ABC.

Chauncy acted on her interest in children's literature and wrote the widely-admired book They Found a Cave (1948). Nine years later her second book, Tiger in the Bush, won the Book of the Year Award of the Children's Book Council, the first of several awards and nominations. Chauncy's books are highly regarded because they represent the first development in Australian children's literature toward a greater realism. Her books are primarily set in Tasmania. She was one of the first writers to portray the Tasmanian Aboriginal people with sympathy and dignity, and she expressed her conservationist concerns with stories that were committed to the natural beauty of the environment. Chauncy also wrote works of non-fiction for children. Chauncy also wrote an unpublished adult novel, 'Comfort Me with Apples'.

Many of Chauncy's novels have been translated and several have been adapted to other media. In 1962 They Found a Cave was produced as a feature film and Half a World Away (1962) was made into a television series in 1990. Chauncy Vale was gazetted as a conservation area in the 1940s and was bequeathed to the local council in 1988. Chauncy Vale Sanctuary attracts visitors interested both in conservation issues and the works of Nan Chauncy.

Nan Chauncy is the sister of Kay Chauncy Masterman. Rosenfeld was her married name until wartime antagonism caused her and her husband to change their surname to Chauncy, the family name of Nan's grandmother.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Mathinna's People London : Oxford University Press , 1967 Z39740 1967 single work children's fiction children's A fictional reconstruction of the tragic fate of the Toogee people, Aborigines of western Tasmania, after the arrival of Europeans.
1968 commended CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year Award
y separately published work icon High and Haunted Island London : Oxford University Press , 1964 Z836730 1964 single work children's fiction children's adventure Two schoolgirls are stranded on the rocky shore of Port Davey, off the Tasmanian coast, in wartime.
1965 commended CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year Award
y separately published work icon The Roaring 40 London : Oxford University Press , 1963 Z836733 1963 single work children's fiction children's adventure A hunt for gold in the remote Port Davey area of south-west Tasmania leads to the discovery of a wild-haired boy, and a mystery.
1964 highly commended CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year Award
Last amended 18 Oct 2012 12:36:21
Influence on:
Influences : John Marsden Frances Atkinson , 2000 single work column
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X