Children's Book Council of Australia 75th Birthday

 

1960 - 1970

Book of the Year award

This week I thought I would pen a post each day to celebrate the 75th year of the CBCA. I am going to look at past winners and shortlisted titles from each decade that I have read and loved or shared with children in my library in the past. I'm skipping past 1949-1960 because I was either not born or too young to experience any of these books. Revisiting  past winners is timely because on Friday, this week, the 2021 CBCA winners will be announced.

Today I will begin in 1960s and 1970s. It is interesting to see familiar names in the 1960s such as Eleanor Spence, Nan Chauncy, Ruth Park, Colin Thiele, Joan Phipson, Patricia Wrightson, Hesba Brinsmead, Noela Young, Mavis Thorpe Clarke, Jean Chapman, Max Fatchen and Randolph Stow. And there are international illustrators in this decade such as John Burningham and Victor Ambrus. 

1961 The winner was Tangara by Nan Chauncy. By some chance this book was gifted to me by my grandfather. The illustrations and cover are by the very famous UK illustrator Brian Wildsmith. Nan Chauncy was from Tasmania. In the US this book had a different title - Secret Friends. The CBCA have an award named after Nan Chauncy which honours people who have made an outstanding contribution to the field of Australian children's literature. This book is featured in 1001 Children's Books you must read before you grow up and the review says "Tangara is a poetic, and memorable timeslip fantasy." Maurice Saxby, in his book The Proof of the Puddin' says "it was Nan Chauncy's Tangara, with it preoccupation with time - "the way the past affects the present, the interdependence of human relationships, and its moral concerns, which was the precursor to contemporary serious fantasy in the Australian novel."

1964 Storm Boy by Colin Thiele was an Honour Book. The illustrator, Robert Ingpen received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen award from IBBY in 1986 (along with author Patricia Wrightson). Storm Boy has been made in to stage plays, movies and a newer edition with a different illustrator was released recently but I much prefer this original. This book is featured in 1001 Children's Books you must read before you grow up where the reviewer says "this book is an elegy to a pioneering Australian way of life that has disappeared or perhaps only ever existed in national memory."

1965 winner Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Brinsmead illustrated by Annette Macarthur-Onslow. Annette is most famous for her book Uhu. In 1969 Pastures of the Blue crane was adapted for television and I have a vague memory of watching it. This is also a book that was gifted to me by my grandfather. The cover I have shared here is from the 2004 edition of this book. You can see the original cover here. This book is featured in 1001 Children's Books you must read before you grow up.

1966 Winner Ash Road by Ivan Southall. I do remember reading this gripping bushfire story. This book is featured in 1001 Children's Books you must read before you grow up where the reviewer says "The encroaching ferocity of the fire - its sights, sounds and smells - are vividly described by Southall and the chaos that it unleashes among the road's various inhabitants, young and old, is brilliantly portrayed." it is interesting to note that the topic of bushfires is now included in the NSW K-10 Geography Syllabus "Students: investigate the impact of ONE contemporary bushfire hazard in Australia ... identification of the location and extent of the disaster ... description of the impact of the disaster on natural vegetation and the damage caused to communities ... (and an) examination of how people can prevent and minimise the effects of a bushfire."  Take a look at my Pinterest collection of Picture books about Bushfires which are a frequent and sad reality of life in Australia. 

1968 Winner To the Wild Sky by Ivan Southall is another book I read in Primary school. Maurice Saxby, in his book A History of Australian Children's Literature, 1941-1970, says "Hills End (1962), Ash Road (1965) and To the wild sky (1967) ... have been called Southall's triology of the elements - Water, Fire, Air. Each of the novels is concerned with purification by suffering, and the infinitude of human action ... " and Maurice Saxby in his book The Proof  of the Puddin', also says this book is "an epic of endurance and survival (raising) issues of persoanl weakness or inadequacy... (and) the Australian landscape is a force to be feared." 

1969 There are two books from 1969 that I read in Primary school. I own the Racecourse by Patricia Wrightson and Let the Balloon go by Ivan Southall which were honour books in 1969.  I recently found a copy of the winner - When Jays fly to Barbmo by Margaret Balderson.  Read my review here. 

It is interesting to see the famous names mentioned in the 1970s award such as Colin Thiele, Ivan Southall, Patricia Wrightson, Lilith Norman, Hesba Brinsmead, Christobel Mattingley, Ron Brooks, Max Fatchen, Ruth Park, Nance Donkin, Simon French, Eleanor Spence, and Noela Young. I also found it curious that there were quite a few books from this decade that I had never heard of. I need to add some books from the 1970s to my long 'to read' list. 

1970 Uhu by Annette Macarthur-Onslow was the winner. Uhu has 64 pages so it has the feel of a longer picture book. Annette based this book on real events. She says in the forward to her book "perhaps one day, you too might find a baby owl like Uhu. Owls of his kind quite commonly fall out of their nests in old conifers or hollow woodland trees. If so, you may learn something from Uhu's story, and I hope that your bird will be as good natured, friendly, brave, clownish, wily and inventive as Uhu, although I hope, a little less prone to trouble."  It was brave of the judges in 1970 to select a book with such a tragic ending. This book was written while Annette was living in Gloucestershire and so the setting certainly far from Australia.

1974 Honour book The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek by Jenny Wagner illustrated by Ron Brooks is one of my all time favourite books to read aloud. I was interested to read the newest book by Australian author Karen Foxlee - Dragon Skin. The children in this new novel spend time down at a creek searching for bunyips. It made me smile to read this reference to our mythical Australian creature. I wonder what will happen if Dragon Skin is taken to the US market.  The winner in 1974 was The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson.

1975  Callie's Castle by Ruth Park illustrated by Kilmeny Niland was Highly Commended. I has this little gem in my school library and often recommended it to young readers. The sequel was called Callie's family. In 2009 Harper Collins published a combined volume with both stories but this is now sadly out of print. In his book The Proof  of the Puddin', Maurice Saxby says "Ruth Park's junior novels are representative, universal and of great importance to children in the process of growing up. ... This is a wise, unpretentious little book, yet contains scenes which ring with authenticity."

Here are the reference books I have referred to and used to prepare this post: