Up We Grew: Stories of Australian Childhoods by Pamela Bone

‘Everyone has a childhood, and every childhood is a story.’

How does our childhood shape us? Why are some children who grow up in difficult circumstances blessed with resilience, while others struggle to cope with life?  Are Australian children generally less resilient than they once were?

In this book, Ms Bone set out to explore these questions through the prism of her own life as daughter, sister and mother.  She writes of growing up in Finley, NSW (a small town on the Murray River) after World War II.  She writes of the early influences in life: family, friendships and school.

‘‘Every life is normal to the one who lives it,’ someone once said, but I’m not sure this is true.  As a child I didn’t think my life was normal.’

Ms Bone also includes stories of childhood from several other Australians, grouped together under different headings.

There are stories from migrant children: Jürgen Nelles, June Factor and Abulkadir Muse.  There are stories from (mostly former) politicians: Mark Latham, Helen Coonan and Natasha Stott Despoja.  There are stories from Aboriginal children who were taken away:  Marlene Burchill, Muriel Cadd and Mungara Brown.

There are other stories too, not all accompanied by the real names of those they belong to. Some write of parents who should never have had children, others write of the impact of adoption divorce and death.  I particularly enjoyed the contributions of Michael Leunig, Maurice Strandgard and Joanna Murray-Smith.

Ms Bone writes:

‘The assumption with which I began this book was that children in this society are better loved, richer, safer, healthier, better cared for and better educated than ever before.  Now I think they are probably as loved by their parents, not more not less. The rest, I think, does hold.  Though there are caveats.’

My own conclusion is that of course there are caveats: even children within the same family may have different experiences of childhood.  What I most enjoyed about this book was what Ms Bone chose to share of her own childhood in Finley and her reflections.  I found this thought-provoking.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

#AWW2019