What do you think?
Rate this book
Ruth Park's Memoirs #1
A Fence Around The Cuckoo
This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression.She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer.In 1942, Park moved to Sydney and married that writer, D’Arcy Niland. There she would write The Harp in the South, the first of her classic Australian novels. A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the story of one of Australia’s best storytellers and how she learnt her craft.
294 pages, Paperback
First published September 24, 1992
28 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Park
74 books110 followersRuth Park was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. She was born in Auckland, and her family later moved to Te Kuiti further south in the North Island of New Zealand, where they lived in isolated areas.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
Winner of the Dromkeen Medal.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
Winner of the Dromkeen Medal.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
August 13, 2023
My sister finished this book recently & just raved about it! I am a Ruth Park fan & already owned a copy, so I bumped it up in my reading queue - & I'm very glad to do so!
For a New Zealander this book is a masterpiece - it isn't just Ruth's memoir of her life up until she joined her long time correspondent & admirer D'Arcy Niland
in Australia - it is also a slice of life of life in New Zealand in a time of great hardship. Ruth's father was a hardworking, decent man - but he refused to allow his wife (a notable needlewoman) to set up her own sewing business- because of the shame of a man not being able to support his family. This became more than unfortunate when, through no fault of his own, (other than maybe being too kind & trusting) Mira went bankrupt. There was no Welfare in those days, so the family moved from the Te Kuiti area to Auckland, staying with various family members. Ruth was a bright child & already showing signs of being a talented author. With the help of an inspirational nun Ruth obtained a scholarship to attend secondary school. She could have still used this in Auckland, but her mother was worried about the cost of school uniforms & other incidentals & wouldn't let her attend. When Ruth eventually got to high school, she did four years work in two years. All of this is recounted in a matter of fact tone without any bragging. Ruth had set her heart on becoming a writer & she knew that nearly impossible goal in early 20th century New Zealand would become impossible without a decent education.
Ruth ended up working at a newspaper (the now defunct Auckland Star) Because she was a woman she was only able to work in the children's section (don't we all miss those from our modern newspapers.) Among other people, she met the tragic figures of Robin Hyde
& Australasian author Eve Langley. Google them if you haven't heard of them - their stories will break your heart. When the children's section was removed altogether (& with so many of the young male journalists going off to war) she was offered a job in the newsroom - but in spite of all her experience (a veteran male writer used to take her on his rounds with him) at a cadets near starvation rate of pay. So Ruth planned her next move.
Ruth got a job offer in San Francisco, but she was meant to set sail on the 10th of December, 1941. On the 7th, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. This meant entry conditions to the States had changed - & that is when Ruth moved to Australia. This was still a very brave move as Australia looked like it would be the next domino to fall in Japan's march through the Pacific.
I have left out so much in this beautifully written book - but this will give you motivation to read this book. In spite of Ruth being nearly unknown in her country of birth this memoir is very easy to get hold of here. I don't know how easy it will be to find outside of Australasia.
& I couldn't work it into my review, but from my copy of the book here is Ruth as a toddler.
That cloud of ginger hair must have been really lovely!
For a New Zealander this book is a masterpiece - it isn't just Ruth's memoir of her life up until she joined her long time correspondent & admirer D'Arcy Niland
in Australia - it is also a slice of life of life in New Zealand in a time of great hardship. Ruth's father was a hardworking, decent man - but he refused to allow his wife (a notable needlewoman) to set up her own sewing business- because of the shame of a man not being able to support his family. This became more than unfortunate when, through no fault of his own, (other than maybe being too kind & trusting) Mira went bankrupt. There was no Welfare in those days, so the family moved from the Te Kuiti area to Auckland, staying with various family members. Ruth was a bright child & already showing signs of being a talented author. With the help of an inspirational nun Ruth obtained a scholarship to attend secondary school. She could have still used this in Auckland, but her mother was worried about the cost of school uniforms & other incidentals & wouldn't let her attend. When Ruth eventually got to high school, she did four years work in two years. All of this is recounted in a matter of fact tone without any bragging. Ruth had set her heart on becoming a writer & she knew that nearly impossible goal in early 20th century New Zealand would become impossible without a decent education.Ruth ended up working at a newspaper (the now defunct Auckland Star) Because she was a woman she was only able to work in the children's section (don't we all miss those from our modern newspapers.) Among other people, she met the tragic figures of Robin Hyde
& Australasian author Eve Langley. Google them if you haven't heard of them - their stories will break your heart. When the children's section was removed altogether (& with so many of the young male journalists going off to war) she was offered a job in the newsroom - but in spite of all her experience (a veteran male writer used to take her on his rounds with him) at a cadets near starvation rate of pay. So Ruth planned her next move.Ruth got a job offer in San Francisco, but she was meant to set sail on the 10th of December, 1941. On the 7th, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. This meant entry conditions to the States had changed - & that is when Ruth moved to Australia. This was still a very brave move as Australia looked like it would be the next domino to fall in Japan's march through the Pacific.
I have left out so much in this beautifully written book - but this will give you motivation to read this book. In spite of Ruth being nearly unknown in her country of birth this memoir is very easy to get hold of here. I don't know how easy it will be to find outside of Australasia.
& I couldn't work it into my review, but from my copy of the book here is Ruth as a toddler.
That cloud of ginger hair must have been really lovely!
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
March 30, 2019
EXCERPT: My mother, I believe, had a small nervous breakdown. For weeks she stayed in bed, the best place to be in that fearsome cold. For it was fearsome, unlike anything else I have ever experienced. Some oddity of topography trapped frigid air in low lying areas, so that frost fell upon unthawed frost, and in secluded patches built up into muddy, earthstained banks. The water tank had a hand's breadth of ice on its surface; in the mornings I had to break up this floe in order to get a bucketful of water.
But Tanekaha Valley had stars. Because of its depth, its tall, precipitous hills, the stars above it shone so close, so clear, that no one could doubt they were suns and planets. Breathtaking they were, and many a night I forgot to breathe, standing out there in the violent cold, gazing upwards, bemused by the fantastic millions of worlds that burned or flowered in space.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression.She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer.
In 1942, Park moved to Sydney and married that writer, D’Arcy Niland. There she would write The Harp in the South, the first of her classic Australian novels. A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the story of one of Australia’s best storytellers and how she learnt her craft.
MY THOUGHTS: I have dallied over this book, strolled slowly through its pages, stopping here and there to indulge in my own memories of the same town some twenty-five years later, and comparing it to now, almost ninety years on from when Ruth lived here.
I have wandered down Nettie Street, wondering which of the old houses that still grace the street might have been where Ruth lived at one point, or if it has fallen/ burned down and been replaced by a newer one. I have searched fruitlessly for the large limestone rock.
The shops she mentions in the main street are all long gone, maybe not physically, but definitely their occupants and none of the names were familiar to me. I wish now that I had listened more closely to my grandparents as they talked about the town as it was when they first moved here in 1910. Ruth also made me remember the town as it was when I was a child, most of those shops long gone too, but a few of the families remaining in the area, but having moved on in terms of livelihoods and professions.
Her description of her aunts 'exquisite, giggly, capricious creatures with good hearts, terrible tempers, and a soap opera approach to life in the form of fights, larks and laughter rather than anything tragic or melancholy' brought to mind two aunts of my own, both now deceased, with whom I loved to spend school holidays revelling in the lack of rules in their homes; loving the spontaneity, the frivolity, and the glee with which they approached life.
There are a few photos in the book. I am sure that Ruth would be pleased to know that St Joseph's Convent School still stands, albeit with a few modern additions, as does the convent house and the church, both still identical to Ruth's photos.
Thank you, Ruth, for opening my eyes to things that I never knew about my home town. I look at it now with new eyes.
THE AUTHOR: Ruth Park was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. She was born in Auckland, and her family later moved to Te Kuiti further south in the North Island of New Zealand, where they lived in isolated areas.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of A Fence Around The Cuckoo by Ruth Park, a paperback copy published by Penguin.
If I remember correctly, I rescued this from consignment to the rubbish dump by turning up late to a garage sale. It is a little battered and stained, but very treasured, never to be entrusted to the removal truck when we move house, which we do regularly.
This was my second reading, which I enjoyed even more than my first. I will be reading this again.
Please refer to my Goodreads.come profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
But Tanekaha Valley had stars. Because of its depth, its tall, precipitous hills, the stars above it shone so close, so clear, that no one could doubt they were suns and planets. Breathtaking they were, and many a night I forgot to breathe, standing out there in the violent cold, gazing upwards, bemused by the fantastic millions of worlds that burned or flowered in space.
ABOUT THIS BOOK: This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression.She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer.
In 1942, Park moved to Sydney and married that writer, D’Arcy Niland. There she would write The Harp in the South, the first of her classic Australian novels. A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the story of one of Australia’s best storytellers and how she learnt her craft.
MY THOUGHTS: I have dallied over this book, strolled slowly through its pages, stopping here and there to indulge in my own memories of the same town some twenty-five years later, and comparing it to now, almost ninety years on from when Ruth lived here.
I have wandered down Nettie Street, wondering which of the old houses that still grace the street might have been where Ruth lived at one point, or if it has fallen/ burned down and been replaced by a newer one. I have searched fruitlessly for the large limestone rock.
The shops she mentions in the main street are all long gone, maybe not physically, but definitely their occupants and none of the names were familiar to me. I wish now that I had listened more closely to my grandparents as they talked about the town as it was when they first moved here in 1910. Ruth also made me remember the town as it was when I was a child, most of those shops long gone too, but a few of the families remaining in the area, but having moved on in terms of livelihoods and professions.
Her description of her aunts 'exquisite, giggly, capricious creatures with good hearts, terrible tempers, and a soap opera approach to life in the form of fights, larks and laughter rather than anything tragic or melancholy' brought to mind two aunts of my own, both now deceased, with whom I loved to spend school holidays revelling in the lack of rules in their homes; loving the spontaneity, the frivolity, and the glee with which they approached life.
There are a few photos in the book. I am sure that Ruth would be pleased to know that St Joseph's Convent School still stands, albeit with a few modern additions, as does the convent house and the church, both still identical to Ruth's photos.
Thank you, Ruth, for opening my eyes to things that I never knew about my home town. I look at it now with new eyes.
THE AUTHOR: Ruth Park was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. She was born in Auckland, and her family later moved to Te Kuiti further south in the North Island of New Zealand, where they lived in isolated areas.
During the Great Depression her working class father worked on bush roads, as a driver, on relief work, as a sawmill hand, and finally shifted back to Auckland as council worker living in a state house. After Catholic primary school Ruth won a partial scholarship to secondary school, but this was broken by periods of being unable to afford to attend. For a time she stayed with relatives on a Coromandel farming estate where she was treated like a serf by the wealthy landowner until she told the rich woman what she really thought of her.
Ruth claimed that she was involved in the Queen Street riots with her father. Later she worked at the Auckland Star before shifting to Australia in 1942. There she married the Australian writer D'Arcy Niland.
Her first novel was The Harp in the South (1948) - a story of Irish slum life in Sydney, which was translated into 10 languages. (Some critics called it a cruel fantasy because as far as they were concerned there were no slums in Sydney.) But Ruth and D'Arcy did live in Sydney slums at Surry Hills. She followed that up with Poor Man's Orange (1949). She also wrote Missus (1985) and other novels, as well as a long-running Australian children's radio show and scripts for film and TV. She created The Muddle-Headed Wombat series of children's books. Her autobiographies are A Fence Around the Cuckoo (1992) and Fishing in the Styx (1993). She also wrote a novel based in New Zealand, One-a-pecker, Two-a-pecker (1957), about gold mining in Otago (later renamed The Frost and The Fire).
Park received awards in Australia and internationally.
DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of A Fence Around The Cuckoo by Ruth Park, a paperback copy published by Penguin.
If I remember correctly, I rescued this from consignment to the rubbish dump by turning up late to a garage sale. It is a little battered and stained, but very treasured, never to be entrusted to the removal truck when we move house, which we do regularly.
This was my second reading, which I enjoyed even more than my first. I will be reading this again.
Please refer to my Goodreads.come profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
June 30, 2019
4.5★s
A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the first of two volumes which make up Ruth Park’s autobiography; the telling of her childhood in New Zealand through harsh and devastating poverty, the Great Depression and the intense and devoted love of her parents and extended family, with aunts, uncles and cousins there to help out in every way they could.
Ruth always wanted to become a writer and although there were no books to be had, she read the newspapers and anything she could lay her hands on. Her memories of the Irish grandmother, of her love of the bush around where they lived, her wonder of the stars in the dark of night – also her convent education where she was encouraged by particularly helpful nuns in her writing; all had a bearing on her future. Her storytelling is at times amusing, other times grim, but always a joy to read.
There are some wonderful old photos in my copy, released in 2019 under the Text Classics banner and I am very much looking forward to the next and final edition, Fishing in the Styx. The photo on the cover of this edition is of a very young Ruth. Although non fiction, Ruth Park’s autobiography was an entertaining and absorbing read which I highly recommend.
With thanks to Text Publishing for my copy to read in exchange for an honest review.
A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the first of two volumes which make up Ruth Park’s autobiography; the telling of her childhood in New Zealand through harsh and devastating poverty, the Great Depression and the intense and devoted love of her parents and extended family, with aunts, uncles and cousins there to help out in every way they could.
Ruth always wanted to become a writer and although there were no books to be had, she read the newspapers and anything she could lay her hands on. Her memories of the Irish grandmother, of her love of the bush around where they lived, her wonder of the stars in the dark of night – also her convent education where she was encouraged by particularly helpful nuns in her writing; all had a bearing on her future. Her storytelling is at times amusing, other times grim, but always a joy to read.
There are some wonderful old photos in my copy, released in 2019 under the Text Classics banner and I am very much looking forward to the next and final edition, Fishing in the Styx. The photo on the cover of this edition is of a very young Ruth. Although non fiction, Ruth Park’s autobiography was an entertaining and absorbing read which I highly recommend.
With thanks to Text Publishing for my copy to read in exchange for an honest review.
June 1, 2013
I really enjoyed this autobiography of Ruth Park's. For one thing, I learnt that she not Australian but actually Kiwi. What a remarkable childhood she experienced in the wild country of NZ and the subsequent years of war and Depression. Amazing book. I'm looking forward to reading part 2 which is ready & waiting on my bedside table.
September 17, 2015
Ruth Park's autobiography reads like a novel. She begins with her earliest memories - the illness of her mother and how scary and confusing it was to her - then continues on through her school years, the Great Depression and on to her marriage. She is able to convey both a sense of place and a sense of the magical as she describes her early life in the bush of the Waikato. For her, life was not easy, but it was full of wonder. Her memories of her Irish grandmother and her aunties are hilarious, and the story of how she and her husband met and married is funny and sweet. I will definitely be reading more of her stories.
I cannot emphasize sufficiently the importance of my early life as a forest creature. The mindset it gave me has dominated my physical and spiritual being. The unitive eye with which all children are born was never taken away from me by the frauds of civilization; I always did know that one is all and all is one.
We lived together for twenty-five years less five weeks. We had many fiery disagreements but no quarrels, a great deal of shared and companionable literary work, and much love and constancy. Most of all I like to remember the laughter.
I cannot emphasize sufficiently the importance of my early life as a forest creature. The mindset it gave me has dominated my physical and spiritual being. The unitive eye with which all children are born was never taken away from me by the frauds of civilization; I always did know that one is all and all is one.
We lived together for twenty-five years less five weeks. We had many fiery disagreements but no quarrels, a great deal of shared and companionable literary work, and much love and constancy. Most of all I like to remember the laughter.
October 22, 2023
Highly readable autobiography of Ruth Park’s childhood and early adult life. Her descriptions of Depression era New Zealand are memorable.
March 5, 2017
A wonderful read - everything I would have expected from Ruth Park, after reading her Harp of the South trilogy. Full of fascinating description of her early life, family, encounters with Maori friends and custom, social history of the Depression in New Zealand. I look forward to reading everything else I can find by the author. Reading this book has also whetted my appetite for reading the New Zealand authors she mentions, and further books about the country and its history.
June 21, 2011
I have always been interested in biographies, and what kind of life it was that formed a person who is famous for one reason or another. The book I read before this was A B Facey's "A Fortunate Life", and after reading this book I would be tempted to believe that famous people have hard lives (at least to begin with).
Ruth Park was born in New Zealand. From her description of the wet, mud, earthquakes, tidal wave I would not wish to have been born there. Her family were poor, but close, and formed most of her social life. She lived through the depression in New Zealand and early in life became interested in writing and although she experienced many difficulties, partly because she was a woman in a time when women's job was in the home, she eventually became a well known writer and journalist.
I like her writing. Her novels have colour and life and so does her autobiography. I am left with the feeling, however, that she has tailored her writing in this book to avoid upsetting her family. Maybe I am wrong, but there is a certain stiffness in the story. Who am I to criticize?
Ruth Park was born in New Zealand. From her description of the wet, mud, earthquakes, tidal wave I would not wish to have been born there. Her family were poor, but close, and formed most of her social life. She lived through the depression in New Zealand and early in life became interested in writing and although she experienced many difficulties, partly because she was a woman in a time when women's job was in the home, she eventually became a well known writer and journalist.
I like her writing. Her novels have colour and life and so does her autobiography. I am left with the feeling, however, that she has tailored her writing in this book to avoid upsetting her family. Maybe I am wrong, but there is a certain stiffness in the story. Who am I to criticize?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2015
A Fence Around the Cuckoo was a completely charming and witty autobiography, albeit the first part, by Ruth Park. It tells of her upbringing in New Zealand as the daughter of poor but upstanding folks, though the extremely difficult times of the Great Depression and exposure to harsh and difficult living conditions.
But around all that was the love of her immediate and extended family, especially the bonhomie of her aunts, her mother's sisters. Ruth also had a special bond with her father Melville, or Mera as he was known.
There are tales of Ruth's Catholic education and the deep care of some of the nuns who encouraged her in her ambition to become a writer.
The book finishes in the years of World War II, when she moves to Australia to meet up with long-time correspondent, Australian write D'Arcy Niland, who she eventually married and with whom she raised a family and developed stellar literary career.
The book was thoroughly enjoyable, written in an easy and pleasant style, typical of Ruth Park's other writing. Happily recommended.
But around all that was the love of her immediate and extended family, especially the bonhomie of her aunts, her mother's sisters. Ruth also had a special bond with her father Melville, or Mera as he was known.
There are tales of Ruth's Catholic education and the deep care of some of the nuns who encouraged her in her ambition to become a writer.
The book finishes in the years of World War II, when she moves to Australia to meet up with long-time correspondent, Australian write D'Arcy Niland, who she eventually married and with whom she raised a family and developed stellar literary career.
The book was thoroughly enjoyable, written in an easy and pleasant style, typical of Ruth Park's other writing. Happily recommended.
September 28, 2020
The first of Ruth Park's two part autobiography, it covers her very early childhood in New Zealand until she leaves for Australia in her early twenties. Always a bright and curious child, Ruth has a burning ambition from an early age to be a writer. The family struggle to make ends meet and especially during the dire years of unemployment and poverty in New Zealand in the years of the Great Depression. Because of this Ruth is forced to leave school early and if she hadn't had the good luck to achieve a scholarship to a Catholic high school where the nuns encouraged her talent, her life may have taken a very different path.
Park is a wonderful writer and her descriptions of life in very hard times and its' impact on her family, friends and the wider community is well worth reading apart from her own trials and tribulations. We are very lucky to have had this prolific chronicler of Australian life to educate and entertain us over so many years.
Park is a wonderful writer and her descriptions of life in very hard times and its' impact on her family, friends and the wider community is well worth reading apart from her own trials and tribulations. We are very lucky to have had this prolific chronicler of Australian life to educate and entertain us over so many years.
December 5, 2014
Loved reading this book remembered watching TV mini series of The Harp in the South & Poor Man's Orange & Playing Beatie Bow or were they movies.....Always wondered where the title Poor Man's Orange came from & it came from her Mother saying to her You're a poor man's child & considering she was a redhead there it is. D'arcy Niland I'd heard of & was surprised to read he wrote "The Shiralee" one of the great aussie movies of the 60s, specially for our family as my Grandfather was an extra at the Pub in it! Our whole family went to see it at the local Cinema,couldn't see Grandfather though!...This book told us all about growing up in NZ & the depression she was born in 1917 & lived to 2010...93 yrs....She would've been 75 when she wrote this so she had a great memory...think I'll read it again!
March 5, 2018
What a lively and interesting book! It's about the early years of Ruth Park, her life as a child and young woman during the 1920s and then the Great Depression. She lived in the north island of NZ. She obviously wanted to be a writer from her childhood, her efforts to make this happen form a lot of this book. She faced extreme poverty, lack of books for a start. She lived in very remote parts of the country. Her family life is recounted in great detail , her memories are very strong. She has such a clear authorial voice, it it makes her story very entertaining at times; at other times things are sad and grim, she's very observant of the outside world's suffering due to the Depression. Life in Auckland as a young woman working for the Auckland Star as WW2 approaches finishes her story in this book.
December 19, 2014
It's interesting to see how many characters and events were taken from real-life experiences, I suppose that's why she's such a good author!
July 29, 2011
a good autobiography
November 28, 2012
excellent
February 2, 2013
What a difficult childhood Ruth Park had - the Depression in New Zealand!
February 9, 2021
Sublime.
December 31, 2015
This was not so much an autobiography but rather a description of the New Zealand Ruth Park grew up in. It contains wonderful descriptions of the Maoris who lived close by and worked with her father. The Great Depression's impact on people's existence was also described in agonising detail. The treatment of women as mothers or in the work place would be an eye opener for young women of today. The author portrays herself as a curious and courageous child who is surrounded by a loving and supportive extended family. Now I'm off to read Gregory Day's An Archipelago of Souls as Ruth Park's mention of the ANZAC campaign in Crete made me realise how little I know of it.
August 18, 2013
Thi is the first volume of an autobiography by Ruth Park. It follows her life from her childhood in the remote rainforests of New Zealand through to the Depression years. I am keen to read the second volume called Fishing in the Styx about her life in Australia married to D'Arcy Niland.
September 11, 2015
Great voice, wonderful use of words and pungent portrait of the country wannabe writer since forever. Got this book as a gift froma friend who's been living down under for over a decade and once again marvelled at how much literature can bring you.
May 23, 2021
Returning to an author of my “ youth “ was wonderful. Ruth Park writes with a passion for words, people and atmosphere that I have been missing in recent books I’ve read. This autobiography is stunning and heartbreaking and uplifting.
Read
March 5, 2024Beautifully written and a superb time capsule of New Zealand in the early 20th Century.
January 6, 2019
Haven't read much set in NZ or in the Great Depression so really liked those aspects of it. Felt it could have been a bit tighter in parts but really enjoyed it and liked the ending.
January 14, 2019
Discovered this beauty at an op shop and thought it was worth a look. Fabulous hearing how the depression shaped her family and moving forward to being encouraged to write.
September 24, 2025
The extraordinary thing is that we (in the UK) don't know much about when went on in New Zealand between the wars. I suppose we imagine that they were fine and all ate plenty of sheep. In fact, the effects of the Great Depression caused terrible suffering and the sheep export business suffered because there were cheaper sources of meat - Argentina for example. I suppose we imagine they were all capable of living in the bush on very little.
Only the very lucky continued to work, as the Depression was world wide, so demand was very low. Only the very rich continued to be able to afford to live comfortably. In Auckland, there were people living rough and families in overcrowded conditions. And one of these families was Ruth Park's. I am a huge fan of one of her novels: the Frost and the Fire, which takes place in the New Zealand Gold Rush. I know that she worked as a journalist in Sydney, and I imagined that she was an Australian. But in fact her early life was spent in North Island, living in various places. Her earliest memory is that of playing in the forest, on her own, but presumably her mother wasn't far away. Her Dad was a loving family man who could tell stories well, who had friendships with some of his Maori colleagues, and learned some of their language.
Ruth's family eventually settled in a town where Ruth could go to school. She is grateful to the nuns who came so far to give poor children an education - in this case a Catholic education. I am particularly glad that someone, apart from me, has good memories of nuns and their dedication to education.
Ruth's mother was from a large, poor, Catholic family of many sisters, but as young women they seem to have done well and during hard times, they had each other for company and comfort. But at one time the overcrowding and lack of food was such that Ruth (and her dog) had to be sent away (to the great pain of Ruth's Dad) to a sister who lived in the country (the Coromandel Peninsula) and she experienced a different way of life there.
Ruth has a unique writing style, bright and colourful, and it may be like that because as a child she had no books at all. She was always keen to read, and in the absence of anything else she wrote her own stories, which from a surprisingly young age she sent to children's pages in newspapers, where they appeared quite often.
Only the very lucky continued to work, as the Depression was world wide, so demand was very low. Only the very rich continued to be able to afford to live comfortably. In Auckland, there were people living rough and families in overcrowded conditions. And one of these families was Ruth Park's. I am a huge fan of one of her novels: the Frost and the Fire, which takes place in the New Zealand Gold Rush. I know that she worked as a journalist in Sydney, and I imagined that she was an Australian. But in fact her early life was spent in North Island, living in various places. Her earliest memory is that of playing in the forest, on her own, but presumably her mother wasn't far away. Her Dad was a loving family man who could tell stories well, who had friendships with some of his Maori colleagues, and learned some of their language.
Ruth's family eventually settled in a town where Ruth could go to school. She is grateful to the nuns who came so far to give poor children an education - in this case a Catholic education. I am particularly glad that someone, apart from me, has good memories of nuns and their dedication to education.
Ruth's mother was from a large, poor, Catholic family of many sisters, but as young women they seem to have done well and during hard times, they had each other for company and comfort. But at one time the overcrowding and lack of food was such that Ruth (and her dog) had to be sent away (to the great pain of Ruth's Dad) to a sister who lived in the country (the Coromandel Peninsula) and she experienced a different way of life there.
Ruth has a unique writing style, bright and colourful, and it may be like that because as a child she had no books at all. She was always keen to read, and in the absence of anything else she wrote her own stories, which from a surprisingly young age she sent to children's pages in newspapers, where they appeared quite often.
June 18, 2024
This is a deeply felt book about difference and love. None of the characters seem like they could possibly fit together and and yet they are impossible to separate. The family is filled with strong characters and Ruth is no different. Despite the odds, with the help of Sister Serenus, Ruth wins a scholarship but is slighted in the local newspaper. “A boy at the Public School had won a scholarship, and when the King Country Chronicle published this, making a little Te Kuiti brag of it, they made no mention of me, though in fact my marks had been superior.” Ruth attributes this to anti-Catholic prejudice but it fits with the feminist theme that runs throughout the memoir.
Of her job as a journalist in the news room at the Auckland Star, Park writes, “Doubtless before its demise in 1991 the newspaper dropped its discriminatory attitude towards women journalists. I hope so. But remember I was the first in a newsroom. That’s my blood you see on the floor.” (290)
Ruth Park is also a lover of animals. Her childhood was filled with the desire to read but she had no books. Luckily, she could explore nature and she writes, “Probably because my early life had been so unorthodox, I much preferred animals to humans. Like the gosling whose first glance falls on the goose girl, so that it becomes imprinted and for ever after believes her its mother, so I would willingly have been a dog or a tree. My positive belief was that animals and plants are the real people, and the sooner the other kind get off the planet the better for all concerns.” (41)
The love of her childhood, apart from books and writing, is a little dog called Flash Jack. Apart from being a ‘villain’, Park writes of the time he was ‘skittled by a tram’. Finding him in the ‘banana room’, Park says the memory haunts her “because of the agony of that little dog, his uncomplaining courage. Twice since that time I have sat with injured dogs until the end, and always they only asked what Flash Jack asked, that their paws be held.” (192)
This is a great book about how a girl learns to be a writer despite being a girl born into a poor family with limited educational opportunities.
Of her job as a journalist in the news room at the Auckland Star, Park writes, “Doubtless before its demise in 1991 the newspaper dropped its discriminatory attitude towards women journalists. I hope so. But remember I was the first in a newsroom. That’s my blood you see on the floor.” (290)
Ruth Park is also a lover of animals. Her childhood was filled with the desire to read but she had no books. Luckily, she could explore nature and she writes, “Probably because my early life had been so unorthodox, I much preferred animals to humans. Like the gosling whose first glance falls on the goose girl, so that it becomes imprinted and for ever after believes her its mother, so I would willingly have been a dog or a tree. My positive belief was that animals and plants are the real people, and the sooner the other kind get off the planet the better for all concerns.” (41)
The love of her childhood, apart from books and writing, is a little dog called Flash Jack. Apart from being a ‘villain’, Park writes of the time he was ‘skittled by a tram’. Finding him in the ‘banana room’, Park says the memory haunts her “because of the agony of that little dog, his uncomplaining courage. Twice since that time I have sat with injured dogs until the end, and always they only asked what Flash Jack asked, that their paws be held.” (192)
This is a great book about how a girl learns to be a writer despite being a girl born into a poor family with limited educational opportunities.
January 23, 2025
Ruth's writing is so real, her succinct storytelling causes the reader to want nothing more than to pull up a chair at a table with her, and to take tea and talk like old friends. A woman who history may have overlooked, deserves a second glance. Anyone interested in the Great Depression, New Zealand, or Womanism and/or Feminism should certainly add this to their 'to-read' list.
Some of my favorite quotations:
"Simply, by and large, I had no high regard for adults. I looked upon them chiefly as curiosities, bound hand and foot by inexplicable rules."
"So there was New Zealand, population approaching a million and a half. Social welfare for the workless? None. There was something for which men had to register, at the end of 1930. Sustenance, it was aptly called, as it sustained breath in the body but nothing else. However, it was not paid for year. Unemployed women were easily dealt with. They were ignored. Like Maoris, they were not counted in unemployment statistics. However when a specific tax was levied on the wages of all employed people in order to create an emergency Unemployment fund, working women were equally taxed"
Not without fear, I saw the truth. Madame wasn't going to be the only discourager in my life, but no one could put me down unless i agreed to be put down.....Though true, my insight was simplistic, a child's revelation of how the world is. I was fifteen or more before I realised that when someone takes it upon himself to categorise you, to define your position, or to tell you how you must be, nine times out of ten he is defending his own status. His motivation rises from unconscious fears as well as ego.......Madame did me a great service when unwittingly she demonstrated that for one party to convince, the other must assent.
Some of my favorite quotations:
"Simply, by and large, I had no high regard for adults. I looked upon them chiefly as curiosities, bound hand and foot by inexplicable rules."
"So there was New Zealand, population approaching a million and a half. Social welfare for the workless? None. There was something for which men had to register, at the end of 1930. Sustenance, it was aptly called, as it sustained breath in the body but nothing else. However, it was not paid for year. Unemployed women were easily dealt with. They were ignored. Like Maoris, they were not counted in unemployment statistics. However when a specific tax was levied on the wages of all employed people in order to create an emergency Unemployment fund, working women were equally taxed"
Not without fear, I saw the truth. Madame wasn't going to be the only discourager in my life, but no one could put me down unless i agreed to be put down.....Though true, my insight was simplistic, a child's revelation of how the world is. I was fifteen or more before I realised that when someone takes it upon himself to categorise you, to define your position, or to tell you how you must be, nine times out of ten he is defending his own status. His motivation rises from unconscious fears as well as ego.......Madame did me a great service when unwittingly she demonstrated that for one party to convince, the other must assent.
January 31, 2021
Ruth’s engaging story of growing up in NZ, from first thoughts to beginning her adventure in Australia.
Beautiful descriptive language, phrases and names echo along the story, eg Poor Jack.
Strong family relationships, close to father and mother, mad aunts. Supportive family.
You can feel her maturing along with the narrative. Her strong desire to be an author.
Discriminatory treatment at the Star, no real recognition for her talent and effort.
Graphic portrayal of the depression, and the cloud of WWII. War deprivation, debacle of the Greek campaign.
Exchange of bold harsh letters with D'Arcy, her future husband. Resisting talk of marriage which was inevitable when she finally met up with him in Sydney.
Beautiful descriptive language, phrases and names echo along the story, eg Poor Jack.
Strong family relationships, close to father and mother, mad aunts. Supportive family.
You can feel her maturing along with the narrative. Her strong desire to be an author.
Discriminatory treatment at the Star, no real recognition for her talent and effort.
Graphic portrayal of the depression, and the cloud of WWII. War deprivation, debacle of the Greek campaign.
Exchange of bold harsh letters with D'Arcy, her future husband. Resisting talk of marriage which was inevitable when she finally met up with him in Sydney.
July 14, 2024
This book was a gift from down-under a couple of years ago. Although I had never heard of Ruth Park she was a prolific author of both adult and children's fiction and I am told her books defined a couple of generations of Australians. I felt immediately drawn to Park's writing style in this the first of two volumes of autobiography. She writes anecdotally about her New Zealand childhood and early chapters have a whimsical almost magically quality to them which I imagine translates well to her publications for children. I'm sorry it has taken me this long to read her and I am eagerly looking forward to enjoying part two of her memoirs 'Fishing in the Styx'. I have also reserved a copy of one of her novels 'Missus' (the only one available) from my local library.
August 30, 2021
Moving, sad yet funny. Ruth Park has a delightful way of sharing her story!
This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression. She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer, D’Arcy Niland, who she later married when she moved to Sydney, in 1942. [From the back of the book]
This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing, and the bitter years of the Depression. She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer, D’Arcy Niland, who she later married when she moved to Sydney, in 1942. [From the back of the book]
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews