Tag: exploration

Convict Girl, by Chrissie Michaels

Almost one year ago I arrived in this colony on board an English transport. I am about to leave on board a French discovery ship…the Geographe…a journey I cannot fathom.

It is 1802 and fourteen year old Mary Beckwith is struggling to adjust to her new life. She and her mother have been transported for life to New South Wales, for stealing fabric. Assigned as nursemaid to a judge’s daughters, Mary tries hard to settle down and do her job, but it isn’t long before she falls foul of the lady of the house, and is sent to serve a French explorer, Nicholas Baudin, who is visiting the colony. Soon, Mary is travelling with the explorer, also crossing paths with Matthew Flinders as the two explorers make their Voyages of Discovery.

Convict Girl , part of the My Australian Story series, is a diary-format tale. As such we are offered insight into Mary’s thoughts and motivation, including her mixed feelings about what loyalty and honesty really mean. Set in the early days of the colony, readers are taken inside the life of the times, and issues such as the treatment of Aborigines and of convicts, as well as the journeys of the two famed explorers Baudin and Flinders.

A wonderfully accessible way to explore Australia’s history, the series is suitable for primary aged readers and younger teens.

 

Convict Girl (My Australian Story)

Convict Girl , by Chrissie Michaels
Scholastic, 2014
ISBN 9781743620151

Available from good bookstores and online .

My Father’s Islands by Christobel Mattingley

‘Hello! Call me Claesgen.

Do you like islands? Do you wish you could discover a treasure island? What kind of treasure would you like to find? Gold? Silver? Rubies? Sapphires?

My father is very good at discovering islands. Big ones as well as small ones. He has seen more islands than a fish has scales. What is your father good at?

‘Hello! Call me Claesgen.

Do you like islands? Do you wish you could discover a treasure island? What kind of treasure would you like to find? Gold? Silver? Rubies? Sapphires?

My father is very good at discovering islands. Big ones as well as small ones. He has seen more islands than a fish has scales. What is your father good at?

Do you have breakfast with your father? Every day? I wish I did. Does he come home every night? I wish mine did. Do you eat dinner with him?

My mother says I ask too many questions. Do people say that to you too?

Claesgen is the daughter of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman was employed by the Dutch East Indies Company, based in what we now know as Indonesia. He was away at sea for many months at a time. His family moved to Indonesia to be closer to him, but he could away at sea for almost a year, so they didn’t see him very often. But when he did return, he was full of stories. Some of these stories were detailed in his ship’s log/diary, but others were just for Claesgen and her mother. Claesgen tells her story and that of her father from her perspective. She also speaks directly to the reader, supposing a reader of her age, from 1642-4. The text is interspersed with paintings, maps, and writings taken from Tasman’s own records.

It’s hard to know where to place My Father’s Islands. It’s written for mid- to upper primary reader, but has resonance for a much wider age-group. Claesgen’s curiosity and unending questions intersperse her retelling of an adventure that is unimaginable to most of us. It is a part of history that many Australians are under- or unaware of. Readers will engage on different levels. Some will relate to the notion of fathers who are not always home. Others will respond to the details of life at sea, and/or to the interactions that Tasman and his crew have with inhabitants of the lands they visit and map. ‘My Father’s Islands’ is a fascinating insight into another time and way of life. Recommended for mid- upper primary and anyone wanting to learn more about Australia.

My Father's Islands: Abel Tasman's Heroic Voyages

My Father’s Islands: Abel Tasman’s Heroic Voyages, Christobel Mattingley NLA Publishing 2012 ISBN: 9780642277367

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com