Nan Chauncy

Nancen Beryl (Nan) Chauncy (1900–70), author, was born Nancen Masterman in England, and migrated to Tasmania in 1912. Her twelve children's novels won her awards on both the national and international scene. The freshness of perception in her first story, They Found a Cave (1948), inspired an excellent Australian children's film. In the so-called Lorenny novels, Tiger in the Bush (1957), Devil's Hill (1958) and The Roaring 40 (1963) Chauncy introduced a new realism in child-characterisation which greatly influenced children's authors of the day. Tangara (1961) and Mathinna's People (1967) were seen as innovatory in presenting a compassionate treatment of Tasmanian Aboriginal themes to children's books.

Nan Chauncy was seen popularly as a Tasmanian celebrity, writer and environmentalist, whose books were largely inspired by the bush cottage in which she lived in Bagdad.

Further reading: B Eastman, Nan Chauncy, Bagdad, 2000.

Berenice Eastman