''The Nargun and The Stars'' is a children's fantasy novel set in Australia, written by

Patricia Wrightson Patricia Wrightson OBE (19 June 1921 – 15 March 2010) was an Australian writer of several highly regarded and influential children's books. Employing a 'magic realism' style, her books, including the award-winning ''The Nargun and the Stars' ...

. It was among the first Australian books for children to draw on Australian Aboriginal mythology."Patricia Wrightson obituary" Julia Eccleshare guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 May 2010
/ref> The book was the winner of the 1974

Children's Book Council of Australia The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is a not for profit organisation which aims to engage the community with literature for young Australians. The CBCA presents the annual Children's Book of the Year Awards to books of literary merit ...

Children's Book of the Year Award for Older Readers, and Patricia Wrightson was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 1977, largely for this work. The story was adapted for television and screened as a

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

in Australia in 1981.

Plot

The story is set in Australia, and involves an orphaned city boy named Simon Brent who comes to live on a 5000-acre sheep station called Wongadilla, in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

, with his mother's second cousins, Edie and Charlie. In a remote valley on the property he discovers a variety of ancient Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime creatures. The arrival of heavy machinery intent on clearing the land brings to life the ominous stone Nargun. The Nargun is a creature drawn from tribal legends of the Gunai or Kurnai people of the area now known as the Mitchell River National Park in Victoria. Other creatures featured in the story include the mischievous green-scaled water-spirit Potkoorok, the Turongs (tree people) and the Nyols (cave people).

Editions

English editions of ''The Nargun and the Stars'' by P. Wrightson: * 1973 by Hutchinson (London and Sydney). * 1974 by Atheneum Books (New York). * 1975 by Puffin Books, illustrated. * 1973 by Puffin Books ( Penguin Books). * 1973 by Hutchinson (London) * 1986 by M. K. McElderry Books (New York). * 1988 by Hutchinson (Australia), illustrated by Robert Ingpen. * 2001 by Bt Bound. * 2008 by University of Queensland Press. * 2009 by Phoenix Education, illustrated. * 2009 by Catnip. Non-English editions of ''The Nargun and the Stars'': * (Afrikaans) ''Die Nargan en die sterre'', published by Kaapstad : Human & Rousseau : World International, 1990 * (Finnish) ''Nargun ja tähdet'', published by Hki : Tammi, 1988 * (German) ''Das Nargun und die Sterne'', published by Friedrich Oetinger, Hamburg. 1990 * (Japanese) 星に叫ぶ岩ナルガン / (''Hoshi ni sakebu iwa narugan''), published by 評論社, Hyōronsha, Shōwa 57 (Tokyo) 1982 * (Slovenian) ''Simon in kamniti tujec'', published by Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 1979 * (Spanish) ''El Nargun y las estrellas'', published by Ediciones Alfaguara, Madrid, 1987 * (Swedish) ''Nargonen och stjärnorna'', published by Berghs Förlag, Malmö 1980

Awards

* Won – CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers (1974)"Judges' Report", ''The Canberra Times'', 6 July 1974, p11
/ref>

Television mini-series

The story was made into a mini-series for television in 1977–1978 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the screenplay adapted by Margaret Kelly. The producer was Lynn Bayonas. The series contained five episodes, each of thirty minutes duration, was first screened on 15 September 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nargun and The Stars, The 1973 Australian novels Children's fantasy novels Novels set in Australia Novels by Patricia Wrightson CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award-winning works Hutchinson (publisher) books Novels about orphans Australian children's novels Australian fantasy novels 1973 children's books Mythology in written fiction