It has been suggested that Arthur Ransome was off target in sketching in the Australian background of Mary Walker in chapter 18 of Swallows and Amazons. However, here is some more information and suggestions which show that Ransome was probably not so inaccurate after all. Edward Baker Boulton, Ransome's grandfather, had lived for many years in Australia before returning to Britain after his first wife died. Ransome's mother was part of his second family. Arthur learned about Australia and living there from his grandfather:
1. Mary Walker refers to opossums, a smelly native of North America. The animal that lives in Australia is now called a possum (and often shortened to possum in the United States). However, Australians used to refer to them as opossums as can be found in literature from the time (e.g. "The Bush" by Mary Fullerton, a 90-page booklet encouraging Australian migration written in 1928.) There is even an Opossum Bay in Tasmania. So that's what Mary would have called them then. There are actually thirteen varieties of possum, but the two most prevalent are the Common Ringtail and the Common Brushtail. A resident of Sydney would be familiar with both varieties.
|
|
2. There are no "little brown bears" in Australia. Most people have assumed that she is referring to the koala which was sometimes mistakenly thought to be a bear (and still occasionally referred to as a "koala bear"). It's a marsupial, not a bear at all and its nearest relative is the Australian wombat. In any case, koalas are not brown but grey and do not eat honey. It seems more likely that Mary was actually talking about the wombat. They look like small brown bears, are more likely to lick honey ... and Ransome's grandfather, Edward Baker Boulton, owned a sheep station which was located in wombat country.
Koala |
Wombat By JJ Harrison (jjharrison89@facebook.com) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8661812 |
3. In chapter 2 we have already been told that she had spent her childhood on a sheep station, while in chapter 18 we are told that she was brought up "close to Sydney harbour". This was (and is still) a common experience for children raised on sheep stations, whether they were/are close to large cities or hundreds of miles away. Younger children on properties usually had tutors or governesses, but were sent away to boarding school for secondary school (as occurred in Seven Little Australians and the Mary Grant Bruce Billabong books). Families were large, and people often had relatives living in useful places.
- "I wonder whether the real Queen Elizabeth knew much about ships" said Titty. "That Queen Elizabeth was not brought up close to Sydney Harbour" said mother (SA2)
- sailing in Sydney Harbour when she was a little girl (SA16)
- recalling when she capsized my cousin's dinghy in Sydney Harbour (SD8)
Ransome's grandfather (a successful artist and business man/sheep farmer) had land in both Sydney and rural NSW (the principal property was 260 miles (420 kms) north of Sydney), he lived on Sydney Harbour while his children were very young, and the youngest daughter of his Australian (first) wife lived in Sydney in her late teens before moving to the rural property.
Occasionally AR invents a location and then appears to forget about it. Writing from New Zealand, Steve points out that in Chapter 10 of Swallows and Amazons the Amazons stop to have their breakfast (with tea!) at Tea Bay. which is neither marked on the map nor mentioned in any of the other books. However, it does appear on Mike Field's Map of The Lake, in what Mike believes is the definitive location.
Sandy Valinis, who with her husband has 7 parrots at home, has been casting an expert eye over Polly, and points out that he is not all he appears to be. Swallows and Amazons and Swallowdale describe Polly as having green feathers, which since he is short-tailed means that he is probably one of the Amazon parrots native to Central and South America. However, Sandy points out that the illustration of him in Swallowdale is undoubtedly of an African Grey parrot (see picture right). She writes:
Amazons are stockier in build, have shorter necks and have no featherless patch around their eyes. Also, the rather long and drooping upper mandible and largish cere (the skin surrounding the nostrils) indicate that the illustrator used an African grey as a model.In other respects, however, AR passes muster: for example like most parrots Polly uses his left foot to grasp objects.
When the Swallows and Amazons conclude a Treaty of Offence and Defence in Swallows and Amazons Titty says that they should put in the Latitude and Longitude: "They always put them in all over the place." Nancy (at times slapdash over technical matters) writes in 'Lat 7 Long. 200'. 'Latitude 7 degrees North' would place the explorers within the Tropics (appropriate for explorers), but Longitude is measured 0-180 degrees East or West of the Greenwich Meridian. (Spotted by Steve and Robert Dilley). It was also spotted by Mike Field, who observes "I think the ridiculous figures shown were quite deliberately given as such by AR in order to avoid having to give what could be considered the 'correct' figures, from which people might be tempted to deduce the 'correct' location of The Lake or indeed Wild Cat Island.
In Swallows and Amazons both the Swallows and the Amazons refer, independently, to grown-ups as 'Natives'. Just a coincidence? (Rachel Klapman)
In Chapter VI of Missee Lee John comments "Mangoes. Pretty nearly awash" when he reaches the 'queer huge-leaved trees' with their roots in the water that fringe the Chinese coast. In a contribution to Tarboard Robert Dilley observes that this confuses the mango fruit (commonplace in today's supermarkets but an exotic rarity in the 1930's and 40's) with the mangrove tree (Rhodophora) which is typically found in shallow estuaries on tropical and sub-tropical coasts.
