The Runaway Settlers - Elsie Locke

Published by Hazard Press Limited: Christchurch, New Zealand, 1993.
First published 1965.

I think I first heard about this book in an article written by Margaret Mahy, or possibly Joy Cowley - two of the great New Zealand children's writers - in which the writer praised this book as being an early inspiration for them. Having now read it, I can see how reading this could help a young writer to realise that New Zealand stories could be told and told well.

The Runaway Settlers tells the true (but fictionalised) story of Mary Small, who, along with her six children, escape from life with her abusive husband in Australia, and resettle near Lyttleton in Canterbury, New Zealand. Mary shows a lot of forethought when it emerges that she has been planning their escape for some time, sending small amounts of money to a friend in Sydney and putting it aside to enable the family to fund their escape. She also shows a lot of determination when facing various disappointments, even standing up to her employer when he fails to live up to various agreements. The different personalities of the various children also shine through, particularly Archie and his love of animals, Jack and his love of the sea, and Bill - the eldest son - and his ongoing obsession with gold. 

After the initial journey of escaping (and for a children's book, this does not shy away from the horrors of abuse), the story becomes fairly episodic, with the family slowly improving their new home and making friends with their neighbours and the local Maori. Then, near the end of the book, Mary and Archie go on a multi-chapter adventure to take cattle to the gold-fields in order to get the best return for their investment by selling them to hungry miners. They return home, and within a chapter or two the book ends, with the author even acknowledging that "A real-life story can never have a real ending, because things go on happening to people, and people go on making them happen. On the other hand, a book must end somewhere." (page 169) 

This somewhat abrupt ending aside, Runaway Settlers is an interesting little book. When I was younger, one story that I was interested in writing was that of a family slowly doing up a rural property. In producing this book, Elsie Locke beat me to the punch by almost 60 years.

Completed 27 December 2022.

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