Meet Nellie by Penny Matthews
Our Australian Girl (series). Penguin, 2012. ISBN 978 0 14 330623 8.
(Ages: 9+). Historical. Nellie has lived in the workhouse in
Ireland, since the deaths of most of her family during the Great
Hunger which struck Ireland in the middle of the nineteenth century
when the potato crop failed. Unable to feed himself, let alone his
daughter, her father placed her there, knowing she would have food
and shelter. From there she was put aboard a ship bound for South
Australia to work in the new colony.
So begins the story of Nellie, the fifth in the series of stories
about girls throughout Australia's history, adding another 4 books
to the 16 already published. She remains at the Depot where she is
taken by a woman to be a helper in the kitchen at her boarding
house. From Nellie's vantage point we see the colony and the new
migrants who have come out to make a new life for themselves. Mrs
Thompson who runs the boarding house has a husband working in the
mines at Burra, several of the young men boarding with her work in
places in Rundle Street, the centre of commerce, and we hear of the
Governor, and the Aboriginal people on the streets. When the
boarding house is destroyed in a fire, Nellie must fend for herself,
as the family moves to Burra, and there is no room for Nellie.
Girls reading of Nellie will read of the perilous journey to
Australia and the lack of protection these young girls had coming to
a new colony, alone and without a family to support them.
For the 600 Irish workhouse girls who came to Adelaide, their lives
must have been grim and Matthews' book will encourage its readers to
think about this.
This is the first in the series of four books about Nellie, the
second, being Nellie and the secret letter. As with all the others
in this series, there is information about Nellie's time, facts
about the date in Australia's history, an introduction to the next
book, and an outline of the others in the series. The cover shows
bits which have a significance to the story inside, and the charm at
the top of the cover shows the date in which this book is set.
The whole series brings history alive for middle primary readers,
and the books are supported with an extensive website.
with teacher notes.
Fran Knight