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y separately published work icon They Found a Cave single work   children's fiction   children's   adventure  
Issue Details: First known date: 1948... 1948 They Found a Cave
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Four English orphans—Cherry, Nigel, Brick and Nippy—migrate to Tasmania, to the care of their Aunt Jandie on her farm outside Hobart. Their arrival is greeted with enthusiasm by young farm boy Tas, and weeks of exploration and good times follow before Aunt Jandie goes to hospital, leaving the children in the care of Ma and Pa Pinner, her foreman and housekeeper.

'A few days of tyrannical treatment by the Pinners forces the children to seek refuge in a secret cave, where they set up home to await the return of Jandie. Despite Pa’s repeated efforts to recapture them, the children stay, fending for themselves in the bush, until Nigel’s secret trip to town uncovers a plot by the Pinners to abandon the farm and swindle Aunt Jandie.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon They Found a Cave William Eldridge , James Pearson , ( dir. Andrew Stean ) Melbourne : Visatone Island Pictures , 1962 Z987206 1962 single work film/TV children's adventure

Evacuated from war-torn London, Cherry and her brothers are sent to live with their Aunt Jandie on a farm in faraway Tasmania. When Jandie is taken ill and sent to hospital, the children are left on the farm under the guardianship of nasty old Ma Pinner, who is disliked even by her own son Tas. The children rebel against Ma Pinner's harsh and spiteful treatment and escape to the secret cave they found while exploring the bush. They later uncover a plot by Ma Pinner to rob their aunt of her farm.

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teaching resources written by Anthony Shaw, published by AustLit.

Notes

  • Also published in braille and sound recording formats

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:Text Publishing , 2013 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction, John Marsden , essay

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Oxford University Press ,
      1948 .
      image of person or book cover 5436829776473822947.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 195p.
      Description: illus.
      Reprinted: 1958
    • Ringwood, Ringwood - Croydon - Kilsyth area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Puffin , 1987 .
      image of person or book cover 2251330041417192044.jpeg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 188p.
      ISBN: 0140321861
Alternative title: Höhlenmenschen im Capra-Tal
Language: German

Works about this Work

In Chauncy Vale Brigid Magner , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Island , no. 149 2017; (p. 68-75)
y separately published work icon Teaching Classic Australian Children's Fiction Anthony Shaw , St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2016- 15827758 2016 website prose

This Exhibition is a collection of extensive teaching resources for classic Australian children's texts. The resources are aimed at upper primary school and lower high school teachers. The collection forms part of Anthony Shaw's Learning with Literature program.

Relationships to the Bush in Nan Chauncy’s Early Novels for Children Susan Sheridan , Emma Maguire , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014;
'In the 1950s, bush settings were strong favourites for children’s novels, which often took the form of a generic mix of adventure story and bildungsroman, novel of individual development. In using bush settings to take up the environmental concerns of the period, the early novels of Wrightson and Chauncy added a new dimension to traditional settler images of rural life as central to Australian national identity. The bush is loved for its beauty and revered as a source of knowledge and character building, rather than being represented as an antagonist which must be overcome or domesticated. In this respect, Chauncy in particular anticipates later ecological concerns in writing for children.' (Publication abstract)
[Untitled] Katharine England , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 27 July 2013; (p. 22)

— Review of They Found a Cave Nan Chauncy , 1948 single work children's fiction
Writers Who Shaped Our Literature Stella Lees , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 21 no. 2 2013; (p. 24-25)

— Review of Hills End Ivan Southall , 1962 single work children's fiction ; I Own the Racecourse! Patricia Wrightson , 1968 single work children's fiction ; They Found a Cave Nan Chauncy , 1948 single work children's fiction ; The Watcher in the Garden Joan Phipson , 1982 single work children's fiction

Reviews of the Text Classics editions of The Watcher in the Garden, I Own the Racecourse!, Hills End and They Found a Cave.

Untitled Donna Ryan , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , vol. 31 no. 3 1987; (p. 59)

— Review of They Found a Cave Nan Chauncy , 1948 single work children's fiction
Writers Who Shaped Our Literature Stella Lees , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 21 no. 2 2013; (p. 24-25)

— Review of Hills End Ivan Southall , 1962 single work children's fiction ; I Own the Racecourse! Patricia Wrightson , 1968 single work children's fiction ; They Found a Cave Nan Chauncy , 1948 single work children's fiction ; The Watcher in the Garden Joan Phipson , 1982 single work children's fiction

Reviews of the Text Classics editions of The Watcher in the Garden, I Own the Racecourse!, Hills End and They Found a Cave.

[Untitled] Katharine England , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 27 July 2013; (p. 22)

— Review of They Found a Cave Nan Chauncy , 1948 single work children's fiction
Farewell, Rewards and Fairies? Nan Chauncy , 1962 single work criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , Autumn vol. 6 no. 2 1962; (p. 61-63)
Leave to Flee Bad Parents John Marsden , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 May 2013; (p. 28-29)
'John Marsden celebrates an author who redefined children's literature.'
Relationships to the Bush in Nan Chauncy’s Early Novels for Children Susan Sheridan , Emma Maguire , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014;
'In the 1950s, bush settings were strong favourites for children’s novels, which often took the form of a generic mix of adventure story and bildungsroman, novel of individual development. In using bush settings to take up the environmental concerns of the period, the early novels of Wrightson and Chauncy added a new dimension to traditional settler images of rural life as central to Australian national identity. The bush is loved for its beauty and revered as a source of knowledge and character building, rather than being represented as an antagonist which must be overcome or domesticated. In this respect, Chauncy in particular anticipates later ecological concerns in writing for children.' (Publication abstract)
In Chauncy Vale Brigid Magner , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Island , no. 149 2017; (p. 68-75)
Introduction John Marsden , 2013 essay
— Appears in: They Found a Cave 2013;
Last amended 11 Oct 2018 09:03:33
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