Elsie Locke, who was born in Hamilton in 1912, grew up in the town of Waiuku, south of Auckland. She was the youngest of six children and, while money was often scarce, her parents were determined that all the children would have a good education. Locke was unusual for her time in that she went on to study at the Auckland University College.
Events in Auckland during these years were to change the course of Locke's life. It was during the Great Depression and she witnessed a demonstration by thousands of unemployed men. It brought home to her that the "unemployment problem" was about real people. From then on she became a tireless worker for social reform.
Even before attending university Locke had wanted to be a writer. As a feminist she had a strong interest in family history, commenting that it is "often the only source of information for women's history".
Her first book, The Runaway Settlers, is based on the experiences of a real family (descendants of the Smalls still live in Governors Bay). Locke researched the topic carefully, and her book is meticulously accurate in all the detail of pioneering life, but she used her own family background to bring the story to life.
The Small family live on a cattle farm in Australia. Mr Small is a cattle farmer _ and a drunkard. He beats his wife and children when he is in one of his drunken rages, and they live in fear of him.
But Mrs Small has been secretly planning to escape, and when her husband goes on a trip she packs up the family and leaves. Their first stop is the anonymous bustle of 19th-century Sydney, but this is just the start of an adventure that takes them all the way to New Zealand.
Putting as much distance as possible between the family and Mr Small is only the start of the challenges that face Mrs Small _ or Mrs Phipps, as she has renamed herself. To get a ship's passage to New Zealand she has to agree that she and the older boys will work for the man who has chartered the ship. They are set to work flax-cutting _ brutally hard work that also means Mrs Phipps can't watch out for the younger children.
However when one of the children angers her employer with his high jinks, she puts a proposal to him _ she will develop a garden for him instead of cutting flax. This will remove the children from his land, and provide her with more suitable work.
Mrs Phipps is given a one-room cottage on an overgrown piece of land to turn into her family's home, garden and income. There is a huge amount to be done but, as with most colonial women, Mrs Phipps is not afraid of work. This is just as well, for she will need plenty of courage to cope with the struggles ahead.
The Runaway Settlers, which has been in print since 1965, was awarded the Children's Literature Foundation's inaugural Gaelyn Gordon award for a Much Loved Book in 1999. Hazard Press is to be congratulated for reprinting a New Zealand classic that exemplifies what makes a really good book _ a strong plot and fine storytelling.
Elsie Locke died in April 2001. She will be remembered as an author, a peace campaigner, environmentalist, historian and, by many New Zealanders, as a national treasure.
Publisher: Hazard Press
Price: $19.99
Age: 10-14
Recommended by: Jenni Keestra
Lifestyle
