An Unassuming Radical
Christobel Mattingley discusses the powerful influence of author Nene Gare’s work
Writer Nene Gare broke new ground in 1961 with her first novel The Fringe Dwellers. Earlier novelists—Katherine Susannah Prichard in Coonardoo (1929), Xavier Herbert in Capricornia (1938), and Donald Stuart in Yandy (1959)—had introduced Aboriginal themes and characters in outback settings. But Gare confronted readers with the situation of urban Aboriginal people. In 1961, Aborigines were still not recognised as Australian citizens, after almost 200 years of living on the fringe of the society that had usurped their lands. Just as in 1988, when Sally Morgan’s My Place helped change perceptions in the bicentenary year of Australia’s colonisation, publication of The Fringe Dwellers and its timely 1966 reprint made its contribution towards the landmark 1967 referendum, which gave long overdue recognition and citizenship to Aboriginal people. Gare wrote in response to white attitudes to Aborigines that she found while living in
Reviews were glowing. It was hailed as an impressive first novel, strongly and compassionately written. The Sydney Morning Herald said it was ‘by far the best that has appeared on the social problems of caste in Aboriginals … artistic, knowledgeable and filled with discerning character studies’. The Bulletin described it as ‘sad and funny, warm and tragic’, while The Age pronounced it ‘stark in places … truly moving’. The By 1985, The Fringe Dwellers had been reprinted 18 times. Filmmaker Bruce Beresford recognised its potential and kept in close contact with Gare through the seven years it took to obtain finance for a film. Gare held him in high regard, identifying with his feeling for disadvantaged people and respecting his refusal to compromise. Consulting with her, he wrote five scripts before both were satisfied the final draft was true to the spirit of Aboriginality and the book. Gare regretted that one character and incidents had to be omitted, but acquiesced, realising the different medium’s constraints. She travelled interstate to spend five days on location with the film crew and cast, which included Kath Walker, Justine Saunders and Bob Maza, because she wanted the actors to know her. She was delighted that the young actress who played Noonah had grown up with the book and loved it. In 1986, after its Sydney Film Festival premiere, The Fringe Dwellers was chosen for the top bracket at
Gare acknowledged that her subsequent three novels, Green Gold (1963), A House with Verandahs (1980) and An Island Away (1981) were autobiographical, as was her posthumously published Kent Town: A 1920s Girlhood. Born in 1919 in In Green Gold Gare wrote about life with her husband Frank, growing bananas in Carnarvon in the late 1940s. An Island Away, based on their earlier years in When a publisher wanted a sequel to The Fringe Dwellers, Gare felt she was not given time to write a novel and in Bend to the Wind regretfully resorted to short stories. She was successful too in that genre, with work published in the Bulletin, Meanjin, Overland, the West Australian, the Canberra Times, and various anthologies. Some stories travelled widely. In 1992, she was thrilled when one was included in a Chinese anthology. Authors she most admired included Patrick White, Rumer Godden, Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf. Candidly assessing her own work she wrote: ‘I am aware that my style lacks elegance.’ Gare said she had learned from every book she had ever read but, to her knowledge, never modelled herself on any other writer. She declared: ‘There are writers with a distinctive style, Patrick White among them, whom I would not go near if I were myself working on something because I would be afraid of some little eccentricity reflecting itself in my work. I think it is better for my type to write straight from the heart, without worrying too much about style.’ Nevertheless, she felt the name Doris Violet May, given to her by her parents, John and Mary Wadham, was not stylish enough for an author. So she called herself Nene, pronounced Neen, which she believed was Greek. Much later she discovered that Doris, ‘frequently the name of housemaids’ in her childhood, is also Greek and confessed, ‘I feel humble enough now to resume it but it is too late’.
Like other successful authors, Gare had to spend much precious time answering letters. At least three students did postgraduate theses on her work and she was generous, gracious and disarmingly frank in responding to their many questions. The correspondence, warm and affectionate, continued for years with Manuela Cannatelli of Rome University and Denise Gutteres, with whom she commiserated about the difficulties of writing a thesis, describing how discouraged she felt when editors wanted further work on a manuscript with which she was satisfied. She was touched to receive an invitation to Cannatelli’s wedding, and sent one of her paintings as a gift. Gare was a talented artist, winning several awards in the 1970s, and holding five exhibitions in Nene Gare died on CHRISTOBEL
MATTINGLEY AM, DUnivSA, is the editor and
researcher of Survival in Our |
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