Tuesday, August 29, 2017

THE NEVER NEVER REVISITED IN JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY GEMS

In the numerous treasures in  the Special Collections section  of  the  Eddie  Koiki Mabo  Library at  James  Cook  University, Townsville , are these  two books  by Mrs  Aeneas (Jeannie )  Gunn   who wrote  the highly successful  1908  autobiographical novel We of  the Never  Never ,  about  life  in  the  Northern  Territory  of  Australia .

The above  books   are    from  the library  of   university benefactor  Miss  Edna  Shaw , in  memory of her father , John Vernon Shaw, which  consists of more than  4500 volumes  on  Australian  art  and  culture .
 
A pasted inclusion  in the  Little Black Princess of  the Never  Never is a  newspaper clipping from the  Melbourne  Argus of  April 24, 1907  about   the Princess ,  called  Bett-Bett   , visiting   Mrs Gunn , living in Hawthorn ,  Victoria  .   She  had  come down   from  Port Darwin with a woman and was met at  the  Spencer  Street railway station  by  Mrs  Gunn . From the Little Darwin Never Never  file is a  photo of Bett-Bett  and  dingo looking  dog from a  battered book  which had once  been  in the library of a passenger vessel which ran between  Australia  and  Britain .   
The  report  said  Bett-Bett , a servant ,  had developed from "the  little  bush niggar  girl " when  Mrs  Gunn first  met her    at  the  Elsey cattle station , on the Roper River,  into a comely , intelligent  child  with  a  wonderful  command of  the   English tongue .

During her  time  at Mrs   Gunn's residence they had  discussed Elsey Station  life  and  people  there .  Bett-Bett  had returned to the  Northern  Territory with many souvenirs  and the hope that if Mrs Gunn returned to the Top End they would "go bush " together .
 
Mrs Gunn , born in Melbourne , where she taught at a  private school , had married  Aeneas  Gunn , described as an explorer, pastoralist and journalist . Newlyweds , they  set out   for  Port Darwin  in 1902  so that Aeneas  could  manage  Elsey Station , at Mataranka , a  former  part  owner  having suicided  .

Mrs Gunn  was  said to be  the first white woman  in the district and  was  called the  Little Missus , her husband  The Maluka . 

Her husband  died   from malarial dysentery  in March 1903 and she returned to Melbourne  where she  wrote  the  novel  , first published in London , translated into German in 1927 , adapted for  Australian schools .   It  was made into a  film  starring  Angela Punch McGregor  as  Jeannie  Gunn , Arthur Dignam as her husband  and  Sibina  Willy  as  Bett-Bett .Executive director was  Phillip Adams , now of  the ABC Late Night Live .   By   l990  the book  had notched up sales in excess of  1,000,000.      


 Mrs Gunn  gave  special thanks  to  W. "Wallaby "  Holtze  of  Katherine  River  in the NT  for  the  courteous  and  practical  help  he  gave  in  posing  and  photographing   groups of   natives for   publication .

When Mrs   Gunn  died  in June 1951, the  ALP  Member  for the NT in the  House of Representatives , Jock Nelson , said she  had  depicted  the life , the spirit  and  the  north  as  no  other  person before  her  or  since .

It was thought that  the Aboriginal  servant  girl  who featured in  the books  had died  . However , in the   l970s ,  Mrs  Dolly  Bonson , of Darwin , revealed she had been  Bett-Bett , the last  of  the Never Never  characters .  After a tough life , she  had  married an  Englishman , the Bonsons  now well known in the Top End . She  died  in March l988 , aged  95,  and  there is a monument to her  in  the  Elsey  Cemetery .