Jackie French, Ming & Hilde lead a revolution (The girls who changed the world #3), HarperCollins, June 2023, 366 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781460763445
Click go the shears, girls…
Ming Qong is back for another adventure in Jackie French’s time-slip series, The girls who changed the world. This time, Ming has requested that Herstory sends her back to a time in which she will be safe and comfortable. Unsure if she can trust Herstory, Ming finds herself on a ship headed to Australia, accompanied by a small flock of well-cared-for sheep and their carers, a group of Saxon girls.
Herstory has sent Ming back the early 1800s to experience life as Elizabeth White, a half-English, half-Chinese orphan who has been offered the position of governess at the home of her late father’s friend, John Montjoy, in the new colony of South Australia. Montjoy, an Englishman, has built a grand home outside of Adelaide and has a keen interest in breeding sheep and revolutionising the Australian wool industry, famously credited thus far to John Macarthur. Montjoy knows that his men have a lot to learn from the Saxon girls, but even he doesn’t realise how much Hilde and the other girls will eventually contribute to his farm.
Having travelled back to the 1800s before, Ming easily adjusts to life as a governess in a wealthy home, and she becomes friends with Hilde Schmidt, the tall, boisterous Saxon girl in charge of Prince Wusty, Montjoy’s highly prized royal ram. Ming’s charge, five-year-old Edmund, is charmed by both Ming and Hilde, but it’s Prince Wusty and the other sheep who capture his heart, and Ming finds him a willing student.
But though she’s safe and comfortable, as promised by Herstory, not everything is perfect for Ming. John Montjoy is relaxed and forgiving for a man of his time, but it is a time in which ladies wore corsets, had few rights and were expected to marry young. Ming suspects that one of the reasons that Montjoy has offered sixteen-year-old Elizabeth a home and a living is with a view to marriage, a fact that terrifies Ming (who is three years younger). As well as a tough time for women, it is also a time that Ming knows is momentous for the countries’ indigenous population and native flora and fauna. But, however much she might want to affect change, Ming is there for one purpose—to watch a girl change history. Only, which girl?
Soon, Ming begins to realise that Montjoy’s ambition as a sheep farmer and Hilde’s skill and passion are key to the herstory happening before her eyes.
Ming & Hilde Lead a Revolution echoes back to the first book in the series, Ming & Flo Fight For the Future. As ever, Jackie French manages to confidently navigate the fine line of representing history in a way that accurately reflects the time, but with respect to sensibilities more reflective of modern society. The series focuses on the lost stories of young women and girls—because they were either not recorded or were rewritten—but this book also delves into the influence on Australian (particularly South Australian) history by German immigrants. Many German names were anglicised and record books were altered to prevent anti-war sentiment and as a result, the influence of German girls on the early booming wool industry has received little attention, but Jackie has brought this history to light through Ming, Hilde and co.
The book also raises other important issues such as the effect of the South Australian Company’s settlement on the native populations, the damage of farming to the native land and the decimation of animal populations such as the wombat (wombats were hunted to prevent injury to sheep from their burrows). While John and Hilde and their like are heroes of their time, the book makes the point that through a historical lens, they could also be viewed as anti-heroes.
Replete with Jackie’s signature references to food (so much food!), juicy historical detail and rich characters, Ming & Hilde Lead a Revolution is a fabulous historical read and wonderful classroom resource for ages 8+.
Reviewed by Pamela Ueckerman
Read Susanne Gervay’s review here.