‘Pied Piper’ for kids and books
Barbara Murison MNZM, librarian, reviewer of children’s books: b Wellington, November 26, 1931; d Waikanae, May 17, 2017, aged 85.
Alove of books, and story telling was born early in a young Barbara Murison, who would go on to dedicate her life to children’s literature, and the children who read it.
As Murison told it in her acceptance speech for the Betty Gilderdale Award in November 2002, which was published in The Inside Story: Year Book 2002, she was an only child with an apparently vivid imagination.
As a young child she was terrified by an aunt’s recitation of the nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie. It gave her nightmares and dreams she would still recall as a woman in her 70s.
Her first recollection of children’s books was climbing into bed with her parents to read Winnie-the-Pooh.
Schooled in Wellington, she left college at the end of the 1940s in her own words ‘‘far too young and unqualified’’, and began work as a cub reporter at The Dominion.
She did not last long in the newsroom, however, reportedly too innocent, and inhibiting the other reporters’ usually colourful language.
A job at the School Library Service in 1950 allowed her to indulge her love of books, particularly those written for children and young adults.
After a trip overseas, she eventually secured a job in the Wellington Public Children’s Library, where she worked until the early 1960s.
Jim Milburn first met Murison when she came to his public speaking classes in the 1950s. He remembers a ‘‘tallish, bubbly young girl who always wore a green tartan skirt with a safety pin in it’’.
He came across her a second time when he was at Price Milburn Books, which published Murison’s Buster Bee, a book she wrote based on her childhood.
Later, after a chance meeting between Murison and Milburn’s wife Barbara, Jim Milburn hired Murison at Raroa Normal Intermediate School in the 1980s as a teacher aide, working in the school library.
‘‘She had a tremendous empathy with children and young people, she was a very warm person ... clearly people just liked knowing her. She was very enthusiastic, and quite a strong person,’’ Milburn says.
That strength was exhibited the day other teacher aides weren’t available to make staff their cups of tea, as was the custom.
‘‘I asked [Barbara], ‘would you mind making the tea?’,’’ Milburn recounts.
‘‘She looked at me and said: ‘I am not a tea lady, and under no circumstances will I make the tea’.’’
Unfortunately for the school the pay was not enough to keep Murison, and she left after two years. Milburn recalls ‘‘quite a queue of kiddies’’ lining up and waiting for her, with flowers and gifts to give their librarian.
Throughout her life she gave up much of her time to children, either through her work at the library, or as a Girl Guide leader. ‘‘She devoted her life to schools, the outdoors, and young people,’’ says Milburn.
Others who knew Murison spoke of her dedication to the environment, as a staunch supporter of Forest & Bird and a keen tramper.
Cynthia Petersen met Murison in the mid-80s when they worked together as advisers to schools in Wellington and Wairarapa for the School Library Service.
They remained close friends, sharing a love of tramping and gardening.
When her ovarian cancer was diagnosed, ’’she was so annoyed, because she had so much still to do’’, Petersen says.
‘‘She was a very energetic person ... she would get up at 6am and read, and read. I loved her very much. She was a true friend, she was a character.’’
Lynne Jackett also recalled her first vivid memory of Murison, in the eulogy for her friend.
‘‘My first recollection of Barbara is the 1986 afternoon she talked to the Wainuiomata Pippins about becoming Brownies and then Guides. At the end of the session she was surrounding by shining-eyed 5 and 6-year-olds ... Barbara definitely had a Pied Piper effect on children.’’
Literature Quiz quiz master Wayne Mills got to know Murison through her work on the quiz in the late 90s.
‘‘She knew everybody, everybody. Books were her life. She was the most fabulous person.’’
He was the person who presented Murison with the Betty Gilderdale Award for outstanding service in the field of children’s literature.
She would mark at Wellington heats for the quiz, and would always be at the New Zealand final, Mills says. ‘‘She promoted it, she was a big supporter of it, and recognised it was for kids ... reading widely for pleasure.’’
Guiding took Murison all around the world, Petersen recalls. Newspaper clippings from 1978 detail a trip to through the Pacific, to Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.
After retiring from the library service, Murison created a book review pamphlet called Around the Bookshops, which, keeping up with the times, was later turned into a blog.
In 2015 she was awarded a SLANZA Honorary Life Membership for her contribution to school libraries throughout the country.
Finishing work didn’t stop Murison from being heavily involved in the community, lending a voice to many committees, Petersen says.
She continued to be a mentor, and a good person to run ideas past, or ask an opinion of, Mills says. ‘‘She was known across the whole industry, and she was respected and admired by everyone, too.’’ By Laura Dooney Sources: Lynne Jackett, Wayne Mills, Cynthia Petersen, Jim Milburn, 2002 The Inside Story, The Dominion, The Evening Post, Robin Hodge