Tangara

by Nan Chauncy

Sometimes when Lexie fingered a string of shells she had been given as a little girl, she felt strange memories stir. It was as if something very precious was buried away in her own mind... Great-great Aunt Rita's old shell necklace carries a power that Lexie can't possibly know. Then, when it leads her to a new friend, she and Merrina enter the secret gully where Merrina's people live. But the gully holds a terrible secret, as old as the necklace itself. Will Lexie be strong enough, as she relives the nightmare her Aunt Rita endured? This deeply moving classic by one of our great children's writers is part fantasy, part history, and one hundred percent masterpiece.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Fantasy, Young Adult, Australia

200 pages

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Emigrated to Tasmania, Australia in 1912. The family settled in the rural community of Bagdad in 1914. Chauncy died of cancer in 1970.

Reviews

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars, but with a note of caution. This is the story of Lexie, a white girl in 1950s Tasmania, who travels back in time to the 19th century where she is befriended by Merrina, an aboriginal Tasmanian girl. A halcyon time ensues, with the white girl learning some of the language and culture of her new friend, with much laughter and joy. It is lovely; the aboriginal culture is exoticized, yes, but through the eyes of a child for whom it is a sort of innocent exoticization; the Aboriginal culture is not less than or worse than the European culture. There's a bit when Lexie eats a live grub, and manages to appreciate the taste. The cross cultural exploration goes both ways--Merrina thinks Lexie smells awful, finds clothes, and in particular the pealing off of stockings, hilarious, and makes fun of her pathetic attempts to move silently through the bush.

But then there is a massacre, and Lexie is there when two white men gun down Merrina's people, trapped in the deep ravine that has been hiding them from the genocidal invaders.

Gradually, Merrina fades in Lexie's memory, and her life becomes one of school, guides, and ordinary friends. But Merrina is still there, and when Lexie's older brother finds himself injured and alone in that very ravine, she saves his life, and Lexie sees her again, with much love and sadness mixed.

So the note of caution--this book was written in 1960. The everyday language used when discussing Aboriginal people is offensive to the modern reader. Off-setting this is that Lexie and her extended family find the past genocide appalling in no uncertain terms, at least once correct someone being blatantly disparaging about the Aboriginal Tasmanians, and strongly condemn past practices, like putting people's bones in museums. So though I was worried this would be so horrifyingly racist and patronizing I wouldn't be able to read it, I was in fact able to.

And I ended up being tremendously moved by it, to the point of tears. And then I went and read up on Tasmanian history, and learned lots (since I was starting basically at zero, this was not hard.).

In conclusion, this is the sort of time travel I love best--with the time travel giving just huge emotional weight to the story while educating and entertaining.

[Colleen Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel I remember reading. My mother gave it to me for a birthday on the strength of it being a Children's Book of the Year. I identified so strongly with the characters that I think it formed a foundation for the values that I would carry through my life. I suspect that was Nan Chauncy's intention all along.

I am still searching for a copy to transport me back to a more innocent time.

UPDATE: tracked down a copy and reread it. A day well spent. It's glorious to now live in Tasmania and be able to picture the landscape of the book so well. After all 'Tangara' is a story about Place and Country. Have you ever walked down a street and felt the layers of history, almost as if everybody and everything to ever occupy that place had left an echo, a ghost, that you could see if you just took a moment to peel back the layers? This book evokes similar feelings. 'Tangara' in the Tasmanian Aboriginal language means 'c'mon, we're going to another place'? That explains why it's been used to name one type of train carriage in NSW. I wonder if the name came via this book or direct from some train-naming bureaucrats research into appropriate names.

I'm not going to dismember this book in any detail. I'll leave that for you to discover for yourself. It is a beautiful book that should be read even today by all Australian children. I'm going to locate copies of some other titles by the same author to read.

As it predates Ruth Park's "Playing Beattie Bow" which also uses the device of an artefact from the past to transport an adolescent girl back in time, it may very well have been an influence on the writing of that book.

[Barbara Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in childhood, and the magic of the premise stayed with me for years. Seven-year-old Lexie, the youngest of a white Tasmanian family, finds a hidden gully in the bush where she meets and befriends Merrina, an aboriginal girl of her own age. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that their friendship mirrors that of another pair of girls a century before, and that it may have the same tragic end. Years later, when Lexie has almost forgotten, Merrina returns to help her in a last act of friendship.
Reading it again as an adult, I was aware of the beauty of the language and descriptions evoking the sights, smell and feel of the landscape.
This is not a sweet story. Merrina has the earthy humour one would expect, and the tragedy of the Tasmanian natives is entwined into the plot. But it is a memorable and enchanting story.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caution with this book, and even though it was originally written for children I probably wouldn't give it to them to read because it contains some very racist language and concepts. I don't want to be an apologist for any of that, it is a horrendous part of our history (and ongoing life in Australia), but I guess the good thing about this book is that it grapples with that.

So this book might offend you, but if you can bear to keep reading, it consistently works to find the common humanity between white settler-descendants and ancient Aboriginal peoples. Granted it exoticises and "others" them in ways that lack real understanding, but at the same time it portrays them as having integrity within their own culture and finding white culture as unappealing as the settlers viewed them. There is a deep and uncompromising criticism of people who killed or persecuted "them" and even an understanding that well meaning people who tried to "help" have destroyed cultures and taken away the joy people had in being themselves. There is a hint of understanding that we could all be better if we met as equals and shed some of the colonial arrogance to learn something.

At the same time the books setting of Aboriginality in an extinct past is problematical, as are things like gender roles (for 2018) and definitely some of the language used. If you are interested then read it cautiously. It is quite complex and has some beauty weaved in among its sadness.

[Kesta Fleming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with Stef Rozitis's review of this book and her comment: 'read with caution'. I was really interested to read the book myself to see how Nan Chauncy dealt with the indigenous theme back in 1960 when it was first published. It's very much a book of its time in the language it uses, and yet at the same time, ahead of its time in its views and compassion. I wonder how it would have been viewed by the Australian indigenous community back then, and again now. I wonder if, in the 1960s, it would have been seen as offensive or helpful or both!

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is certainly a book of its time. It was written in 1960 and the language certainly reflects this so it is something to be aware of. It was given to me by an Australian friend, as I know little of the Tasmanian Aboriginal history but was interested to find out. This is an incredibly moving story and highlights the tragic past of this particular race through the eyes of a child. The beauty of the Tasmanian landscape is brought alive through the author’s rich description. A very thought-provoking book.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intervening century is no bar to the friendship between a modern Tasmanian resident and her new-found friend, a girl whose people were exterminated 150 years ago.

[Beau N. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for a class in University.