92-449: Wybalenna may refer to: Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island , off the north eastern tip of Tasmania Wybalenna Island , four small islands off the west coast of Flinders Island. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Wybalenna . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
184-437: A sealer and eventually sold to other sealers on Kangaroo Island , while in 1829 her step-mother was abducted by mutinous convicts and taken to New Zealand . There is also an account that around 1828 Truganini's uncle was shot by a soldier, and that she was abducted and raped by timber-cutters . The timber-cutters also brutally murdered and drowned two Nuenonne men, one of which was Truganini's fiancé, by throwing them out of
276-598: A Pairelehoinner youth named Tunnerminnerwait to gather some of the local people, who he shipped to Launceston to claim the bounty. Joseph Fossey, the superintendent for the Van Diemen's Land Company, meanwhile took an interest in Truganini and wanted her as an "evening companion". An experienced convict bushman attached to Robinson's expedition named Alexander McKay also began a sexual relationship with Truganini at this time. The expedition made its way east to Launceston where
368-502: A boat and cutting off their hands with an axe as they tried to clamber back in. By 1828 the British had established three whaling stations on Bruny Island. A relationship existed between the whalers and Nuenonne females, where flour, sugar and tea were exchanged for sex. Truganini participated in this trade. She also was an exceptional swimmer and provided further food for her people by diving for abalone and other shellfish . In 1828,
460-680: A campaign against the superintendent Dr Henry Jeanneret and his harsh control over the Aboriginal inmates. Their most significant action was to write a petition to Queen Victoria in 1846, complaining about Jeanneret's authoritarian rule. It was the first petition written by Indigenous Australian people to a reigning monarch, in which they wrote: "Your Majesty's petitioners pray that you will not allow Dr Jeanneret to come again among us...he used to carry pistols in his pockets and threatened to shoot us...our houses were let fall down and they were never cleaned but covered with vermin...eleven of us died when he
552-409: A central campfire. However, after the move to Wybalenna, they were strongly encouraged to take on European practices such as wearing clothing, smoking tobacco , attending church services and not going into the bush to hunt. Additionally, they were forced to live in a terrace of small plastered and thatched rooms which were poorly ventilated and overcrowded. Robinson, meanwhile, had been busy capturing
644-639: A holding place was forgotten about and Robinson shipped some of his captives to Hobart to claim the bounties. On arriving at Launceston on the north coast in October 1830, Robinson found that the Black War had reached a climax and the colonists were organising a force of around 2,000 people, called the Black Line , to corral the remaining Palawa and force them into the Tasman Peninsula . Arthur wanted to commission
736-535: A man named Wyne who had attempted to kill Robinson the previous year. Truganini was employed by Robinson to push the rafts carrying people across the rivers. The water in winter was very cold and Truganini performed this arduous task almost daily for weeks. She had a seizure after a particularly demanding day of ferrying captives. Robinson deposited his prisoners at the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station to await transportation to Flinders Island where
828-662: A meeting with the Lieutenant-Governor in early 1831. For his "friendly mission" work, Robinson was rewarded with land grants and hundreds of pounds worth of pay increases. Truganini's reward, in contrast, was a set of cotton dresses. While in Hobart, Robinson successfully negotiated a contract with the colonial authorities for him to lead further expeditions to capture all the remaining Aboriginal Tasmanians and transfer them to confinement in Bass Strait. Robinson firstly took Truganini,
920-412: A pay rise, a £100 bonus and a personal land grant. Furthermore, Robinson was commissioned to round up all the remaining Aboriginal people residing in the settled districts of Tasmania and remove them to a suitable island in the Bass Strait where he was to be in charge of them as Superintendent of Aborigines. Robinson agreed to Arthur's proposal and chose the isolated Gun Carriage Island as the location for
1012-421: A population. The old sealers huts which were used as accommodation were unhealthy, and the water supply was poor. Three Palawa died and 15 more were sick. In June, Robinson left these problems to Sergeant Alexander Wight and started on his new expedition to capture the remaining Aboriginal people in the settled areas of mainland Tasmania. He took twelve Palawa from Gun Carriage Island to assist him. Wight treated
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#17328526787381104-485: A report issued by the Colonial Office , by 1861 the number of survivors at Oyster Cove was only fourteen: ...14 persons, all adults, aboriginals of Tasmania, who are the sole surviving remnant of ten tribes. Nine of these persons are women and five are men. There are among them four married couples, and four of the men and five of the women are under 45 years of age, but no children have been born to them for years. It
1196-421: A site for incarceration. Robinson, therefore, explored the other Bass Strait islands in the area for a more permanent site, requisitioning female Palawa who had been abducted by sealers along the way. By this stage, a combined total of around 25 Palawa had been relocated to Swan Island by Robinson. Despite the small number of captured Palawa, Arthur was very pleased with Robinson's efforts and rewarded him with
1288-691: A slight graze to the head. Truganini and the others were then taken into custody. The two men were charged with murder and Truganini with the two other women were charged with being accessories to the crime. At the trial in Melbourne, the three women including Truganini were exonerated, but Maulboyheenner and Tunnerminnerwait were found guilty. The two men were publicly hanged in what was the first legal execution conducted in Melbourne on 20 January 1842. Truganini and Robinson's other surviving Aboriginal guides were transported back to Wybalenna on Flinders Island several months later. Her first husband, Woureddy, died on
1380-420: A table and my hands and feet were tied. I was flogged every day...I think I was flogged when I ought not to be flogged...I was once flogged when the blood ran down my head." A leading young man of the exiled Ben Lomond people, Walter George Arthur , and his wife Mary Ann, had developed a strong understanding of their rights as British subjects while travelling with George Augustus Robinson. At Wybalenna, they led
1472-462: A visiting official from Launceston concluding in 1836 that the Aboriginal occupants of Wybalenna were being deliberately exterminated. When James Backhouse visited the site in 1837, he noted that general health of the Aborigines was very poor. These problems did not interfere with the construction of a chapel at Wybalenna, which was completed in 1838. Meanwhile, deaths were high and births were few,
1564-426: A young Tasmanian Aboriginal man who had also come from Wybalenna. They were joined by another Tasmanian man named Tunnerminnerwait and two women called Plorenernoopner and Maytepueminer. The group decided to head to Westernport Bay to take revenge on a local colonist named William Watson, whom they believed shot dead Maytepueminer's husband Lacklay. The group stole some guns and staked out Watson's beachside hut at
1656-504: Is considered difficult to account for this... Besides these 14 persons there is a native woman who is married to a white man, and who has a son, a fine healthy-looking child... The article, headed "Decay of Race", adds that although the survivors enjoyed generally good health and still made hunting trips to the bush during the season, after first asking "leave to go", they were now "fed, housed and clothed at public expense" and "much addicted to drinking". Truganini continued to survive and in
1748-744: The American Museum of Natural History and three at the Royal College of Surgeons . Robinson, frustrated that the Wybalenna project was failing, attempted to obtain government permission to move the surviving Palawa to the Australian mainland. He was denied this request, but in 1839 was accepted to the role of Protector of Aborigines in the Port Phillip District . Robinson subsequently abandoned Wybalenna to take up this position. He took with him 15 of
1840-515: The Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land , Colonel George Arthur , ordered the creation of an Aboriginal ration station on Bruny Island, which in 1829 was placed under the authority of an English builder and evangelical Christian named George Augustus Robinson . On arriving at Bruny Island, Robinson was immediately impressed by Truganini's intelligence and decided to form a close association with her to facilitate other Nuenonne to come to
1932-626: The National Trust of Australia but this never eventuated. Funds raised in this process were used to restore the chapel. In 1973, the local Aboriginal residents, mostly descendants of the sealers' Indigenous wives who had remained in the area, established the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association. This association recognised the Wybalenna site, which contains Tasmania's largest known Aboriginal burial-ground, as holding great cultural and historical significance. Wider attention
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#17328526787382024-464: The Powlett River . While Watson was away they plundered and set fire to the hut, causing his wife and daughter to flee. When Watson returned, they shot at him wounding him and his servant. The group then hid out in the bush while Watson went to get armed reinforcements. A few days later, two whalers named Yankee and Cook, happened to be walking along the beach looking for provisions. They approached
2116-524: The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery until 1948. Her remains were finally cremated and laid to rest in 1976. In being mythologised as "the last of her people", Truganini became the tragic and triumphal symbol of the conquest of British colonists over an "inferior race". In modern times, Truganini's life has become representative of both the dispossession and destruction that was exacted upon Indigenous Australians and also their determination to survive
2208-568: The Western Bluff . In February 1835, these Tommigener were shipped off to Wybalenna from Launceston, leaving Robinson to claim his rewards for removing almost in entirety the remaining Aboriginal population from mainland Tasmania. With the completion of the removal of Aborigines from mainland Tasmania, Robinson brought his Indigenous guides to his house in Hobart for a few months of respite. During this period Truganini and Woureddy became celebrities and had their portraits painted by Thomas Bock and
2300-502: The Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment had been formed to replace the internment camp at Gun Carriage Island. The approximately 35 captives were held in terrible conditions at Macquarie Harbour, with around half dying from bacterial pneumonia and suicide within a couple of weeks. This included previously healthy young men, pregnant women and infants. Over 80% of the captured Tarkiner people perished. After shipping off
2392-589: The 1860s became involved in a relationship with a younger Tasmanian Aboriginal man, William Lanne (known as "King Billy") who died in March 1869. By 1873, Truganini was the sole Aboriginal Tasmanian survivor at Oyster Cove. The government subsequently sold off the land and buildings, with Truganini being moved to Hobart to live in the family home of the last superintendent of the Oyster Cove facility. She died in May 1876 and
2484-417: The Aboriginal graves took place in the early 1870s when the professional collector Morton Allport commissioned the landowner at Wybalenna, Robert Gardner, to procure Palawa skeletons from the cemetery. Gardner, also known as "Resurrection Bob" for his grave-robbing skills, supplied at least four complete skeletons for Allport. These included the remains of Mannapackername, Lucy and Trowlebunner. It appears that
2576-479: The Aboriginal station at Bruny Island was doomed, Robinson formulated a scheme to use Truganini, Woureddy and a few other captured Aboriginal people such as Kikatapula and Pagerly, to guide him to the clans residing in the uncolonised western parts of Van Diemen's Land. Once contacted, Robinson would "conciliate" these clans to accept the British invasion and avoid conflict. Lieutenant-Governor Arthur approved Robinson's plan and employed him to conduct this venture which
2668-449: The Aboriginal station which he established at Missionary Bay on the west side of the island. With the assistance of Truganini, Robinson initially had some success in attracting Nuenonne and Ninine people to his establishment. He even took Truganini and her cousin Dray to Hobart dressed in fine European dresses to display them to the Lieutenant-Governor as being examples of his ability to "civilise
2760-594: The Ben Lomond Rivulet. However, Batman, who at this stage had tertiary syphilis , refused to give them up saying they were his property. From February to April, Robinson's group located and captured twenty Tarkiner people on the west coast. This was despite Truganini and Woureddy temporarily refusing to act as guides for Robinson. However, crossing the Arthur River on the return journey, Truganini again saved Robinson's life by swimming out to his raft and towing it to
2852-460: The Palawa continued. Robinson replaced their Indigenous names with British ones, forced the men to labour, and encouraged the women to take on conventional European female roles of washing and sewing clothes. The children were separated from their parents and received immersive Christian instruction. The English language was strongly encouraged as the only language to communicate in, with Robinson promoting
Wybalenna - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-616: The Tasman Peninsula as the ultimate holding place for the captured Palawa but in the meantime he designated Swan Island off the north-east coast in Bass Strait as the place where Robinson should relocate his captives. Robinson arrived at Swan Island in November 1830 where he learnt that the Black Line operation was a failure, and that the Tasman Peninsula was no longer being considered as
3036-587: The Tasmanian coast. The first such location was Bruny Island where a ration station built for the remaining local Nuenonne people was utilised from 1829. George Augustus Robinson was appointed to oversee the station in March of that year. However, within a few months 10 of the 19 inmates, mostly from the Nuenonne and Ninene clans, had died and the concept was close to collapse. In order to remain employed, Robinson approached Lieutenant-Governor Arthur with an idea to use
3128-453: The Tasmanian mainland or even across Bass Strait to the Port Phillip District , but this was never acted upon. Additionally, Nickolls made an official complaint in 1835 about the enforcement of Christianity upon the exiled Palawa, but received only a rebuke from the Lieutenant-Governor who stated that the teaching of the Bible was a priority to relieve "the unaccustomed mind of the savage...from
3220-517: The Wybalenna establishment is regarded as an example of the implementation of genocidal policies against Indigenous Australians . During the Black War of the late 1820s between the Indigenous Tasmanian people and the British colonists, the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, George Arthur , began implementing a policy of exiling of captive Palawa prisoners of war on islands off
3312-449: The approximately 20 Aboriginal Tasmanians in his charge was Swan Island . Exposed to powerful gales, the small island had poor access to water supply and was infested with tiger snakes . After not only coming close to being bitten by one of these deadly snakes, Truganini managed to escape a large shark when diving for crayfish. However, Robinson soon took Truganini and a few other guides off this island to accompany him to Hobart where he had
3404-537: The area around Port Davey . At the time of Truganini's birth, the British had already begun colonising the region around Nuenonne country, severely disrupting the ability of her people to live and practise their traditional culture. The violence directed at the Nuenonne, who were regarded as helpful to the colonists, was sustained and horrific. Around 1816, a group of British sailors raided the camp of Truganini's family, stabbing her mother to death. In 1826, Truganini's older sisters Lowhenune and Magerleede were abducted by
3496-501: The bank after it was carried away by the swift current. After sending these Tarkiner off to exile at Wybalenna, Robinson left the expedition, placing his sons in charge to find the remnant Tommigener clan located near the Vale of Belvoir. For months, Truganini and the others trudged through heavy winter snow and spring rains but finally located the last eight people of this tribe in December near
3588-423: The boats were obliged to remain on the deck for the journey to Wybalenna, exposed to cold winds and rain. By May 1833, there were around 120 Palawa exiled at Wybalenna with only four of the terraced rooms having been built to accommodate them. A news report from the time described this situation as a "glorious achievement". By August of the same year, nineteen Palawa had died there, with a further thirteen dead by
3680-503: The colonial genocidal policies that were enforced against them. Other spellings of her name include Trukanini , Trugernanner, Trugernena, Truganina, Trugannini, Trucanini, Trucaminni , and Trucaninny . Truganini was widely known by the nickname Lalla(h) Rookh , and also called Lydgugee . In the Indigenous Bruny Island language , truganina was the name of the grey saltbush, Atriplex cinerea . " Lalla Rookh "
3772-603: The command of Commissioner Frederick Powlett was tasked with apprehending them. Powlett's force consisted of 30 armed and mounted men, including soldiers, colonists, Border Police and Native Police troopers. After a month at large, Powlett managed to surround and ambush the outlaws back at the Powlett River area. Thirty guns fired simultaneously at the Aboriginal Tasmanians only resulted in Maytepueminer receiving
Wybalenna - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-637: The death and misery of Wybalenna. They managed to locate a Tarkiner family group with four children (one of whom would later be known as William Lanne ), but they refused to go to Flinders Island. By July 1837, Truganini and the other guides were taken back to Wybalenna. In 1839, Robinson accepted the position of Protector of Aborigines in the newly colonised Port Phillip District in present-day Victoria . Robinson quit his role as manager of Wybalenna and took Truganini and sixteen other Aboriginal Tasmanians with him as servants. However, once in Melbourne , Robinson
3956-589: The devastation of invasion and the Black War in which most of her relatives died, avoiding death herself by being assigned as a guide in expeditions organised to capture and forcibly exile all the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians. Truganini was later taken to the Port Phillip District where she engaged in armed resistance against the colonists. She herself was then exiled, first to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island and then to Oyster Cove in southern Tasmania . Truganini died at Hobart in 1876, her skeleton later being placed on public display at
4048-434: The end of 1833. In 1834, the management of the establishment was transferred firstly to the facility's medical officer, Dr James Allen, and then to Mr Henry Nickolls. Allen and Nickolls warned the colonial authorities that the housing was neither warm nor dry, the soil was sterile, the water supply was unwholesome and the provisions provided were very inadequate. It was proposed that the establishment either be moved back to
4140-467: The establishment back to The Lagoons and installed Ensign William James Darling with a contingent of eight soldiers of the 63rd Regiment to take charge and maintain order. A month later, Robinson again left after receiving a £1,000 offer from the colonial government to track down and remove all the remaining Palawa from Van Diemen's Land, most of whom were located in the rugged western region. Robinson took 15 Palawa guides with him, four of whom died within
4232-477: The establishment of the first ever Aboriginal Australian newspaper. Each edition was a single hand-written page and it was called the Flinders Island Chronicle . The editors were two Indigenous adolescents named Walter George Arthur and Thomas Brune who had learnt English at the orphan school in Hobart. The supply of adequate food and water, and the conditions of the housing failed to improve, with
4324-449: The exile of the Palawa. Robinson arrived at Gun Carriage Island in March 1831 with the Palawa who had been on Swan Island as well as others who had either been incarcerated in Hobart or were travelling with him. A total of around 60 Indigenous people were soon on the island. Supporting staff including a surgeon, a carpenter, convict labourers and several soldiers were also attached to the group. The island quickly proved inadequate for such
4416-457: The exiled Aborigines started to sicken, with several dying in the first few weeks. Truganini was able to escape this disaster though as Robinson took her, Wurati, Kikatapula , Pagerly, Mannalargenna , Woretemoeteryenner , Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner as guides to capture the remaining Aboriginal Tasmanians in the settled districts. They started off in July 1831 with the initial aim of finding
4508-442: The facility. The main commandant of Wybalenna was George Augustus Robinson who played a principal role in the system of capturing and sending Palawa to the facility. Famous people incarcerated at Wybalenna included Truganini , Mannalargenna and William Lanne , amongst others. Due to the many deaths of Indigenous people at Wybalenna, the alienation of the inmates from their homeland and the forcible repression of cultural practices,
4600-410: The first two months of this expedition. Under Darling, conditions at The Lagoons improved and the Aboriginal population, which at this stage was around 80 people, mostly survived with only four deaths being reported by October 1832. Darling had also been tasked with overseeing a detailed survey of Flinders Island and if possible locating a better site for the establishment. A more advantageous location
4692-455: The hide-out of Truganini's group, who mistook them for Watson and his man. Maulboyheenner and Tunnerminnerwait subsequently shot and beat the whalers to death. As a result, the five Aboriginal Tasmanians became outlaws , triggering a long pursuit by the authorities around the Bass River and Tooradin regions. The group raided huts along the way, taking food, guns and ammunition. A party under
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#17328526787384784-550: The infant mortality during this period being close to 100%. From the opening of the facility in 1833 up until the end of 1838, around 100 Palawa had died at Wybalenna. Robinson ordered the medical officer at Wybalenna to perform autopsies on all the Palawa who died at Wybalenna. He also ordered the decapitation and removal of the skulls on at least 12 of the corpses. These skulls were later sold or given as curiosities to people such as Lady Jane Franklin and Joseph Barnard Davis . Seven of these Aboriginal Tasmanian skulls ended up at
4876-465: The journey. At Wybalenna, Truganini refused to be bound by the rules and often ran away with the local sealers. The superintendent forced her into a marriage with Mannapackername, a detainee who was regarded as reliable man, but this did little to modify her rebelliousness, in fact Mannapackername himself became insubordinate under Truganini's influence. By 1847, many of the exiled Aboriginal Tasmanians at Wybalenna had died including Mannapackername and it
4968-425: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wybalenna&oldid=1224594301 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment The Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment
5060-497: The most educated Palawa from the establishment including Truganini, Maulboyheenner and Walter George Arthur. Sixty Palawa remained at Wybalenna where government funding was immediately halved. The new superintendent, Captain Malcolm Laing Smith, mostly left these sixty people to their own devices, but they were placed in a cell if they were insubordinate. Eight of the children were removed to an orphan school in Hobart. Smith
5152-500: The natives". However, colonial violence and European diseases rapidly killed off most of the Indigenous people who visited the establishment, including Truganini's father Manganerer. By October 1829, only a handful of Nuenonne and Ninine had survived, and to strengthen his father-like bonds with the survivors, Robinson oversaw the partnering of the young Truganini with an important surviving Nuenonne man named Woureddy . Realising that
5244-530: The once-feared warriors Tongerlongeter and Montpelliatta , were paraded in Hobart before being transported to Gun Carriage Island. Truganini again avoided exile to the Bass Strait Islands by being a guide for Robinson's expedition to capture the remaining Indigenous people of the west coast of Tasmania. Several other guides including Eumarrah and Kikatapula died early in the expedition, but Robinson still managed to apprehend through deceitful means most of
5336-410: The other guides and around 25 Aboriginal people held in various hospitals and jails in Hobart and Launceston, and transported them to Swan Island where the others were still being held. The combined captive population swelled to over 50 and Robinson decided to move the place of exile to a former sealer's camp on Gun Carriage Island . Gun Carriage Island proved little better than Swan Island and many of
5428-406: The policy of separating the children from the adults was continued. They were placed under the authority of the establishment's chaplain, Robert Clark and his wife. Clark treated the children brutally and one of the worst affected was the girl Mathinna . Mathinna gave evidence in a subsequent inquiry, saying: "I have been under the care of Mr and Mrs Clark when I was flogged I was placed across
5520-563: The population at The Lagoons increased again to 66, as the Palawa captured by Robinson on mainland Tasmania were transported to the establishment. This increase in numbers frightened Wight, who thought the new war-hardened inmates would kill him. After some violence which saw a Palawa man being shot dead by a sealer, Wight panicked and again relocated the settlement to nearby Green Island for security reasons. Robinson arrived at Green Island in February 1832 and relieved Wight of his duties. He moved
5612-464: The process. Sealers on nearby Robbins Island were also found with women kidnapped from both local clans and elsewhere in Tasmania. On meeting Truganini, the kidnapped women cried with joy as Robinson negotiated their release. However, Robinson being informed that the government were offering a £5 bounty for every native captured, now sought financial gain from his "friendly mission". He duplicitously used
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#17328526787385704-611: The remaining Indigenous people at Bruny as guides to find and bring other Palawa to the station. Arthur already had a similar policy in place with armed "roving parties" commanded by people such as Gilbert Robertson and John Batman , who would search for and capture or kill Palawa with the aid of Aboriginal guides. However, Robinson's plan was to use persuasion rather than force, and Arthur readily agreed to it. Robinson's so-called "friendly mission" therefore began in January 1830 with 12 Palawa located at Bruny Island acting as guides. One of these
5796-525: The remaining Palawa in western Tasmania and sending them in the occasional boatload to Wybalenna. He had become reliant on force to convince these people to leave their homeland, often rounding them up at gunpoint. He congregated his captives at staging points such as Hunter Island and the tiny Grummet Island in Macquarie Harbour to await being shipped to Flinders Island. Around 20 adult and child Palawa died at these staging points. Those that made it onto
5888-441: The remaining Palawa on Gun Carriage Island as criminals and around August 1831, he relocated the whole establishment to a place on the south-west coast of Flinders Island known as The Lagoons. Here the Palawa were exposed to the cold westerly winds and the only water available was that dug from wells close to the beach. Twenty Aboriginal people died as a result, leaving only 20 surviving at The Lagoons. In late 1831 and early 1832,
5980-520: The remaining tribespeople from the Cape Grim region. In September 1832, Truganini saved Robinson by swimming him across the Arthur River away from a group of Tarkiner people who intended to kill him. In late 1832 and early 1833, Truganini assisted in several mostly unsuccessful expeditions in the west and south-west led by the colonist Anthony Cottrell , whom Robinson had delegated authority to while he
6072-632: The respected Tyerrernotepanner leader Eumarrah and his small clan, whom they captured in late August near the locality of Pipers Brook . They then continued on, looking to take captive the remaining members of the Oyster Bay and Big River tribes who had condensed into a single group taking refuge in the Central Highlands . Truganini and the other Indigenous guides frustrated Robinson by seeming to alert this group of their approach and it wasn't until December that they were seized. This group which included
6164-616: The sculptor Benjamin Law also created casts and busts of their profiles. However, in September 1835, they too were taken into exile at the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment with the other Indigenous Tasmanians. Robinson became the superintendent at Wybalenna and began a program of Christianising the inmates. He changed their names, made them wear European clothes and attempted to prohibit their practising of Aboriginal culture and language. Illness and mortality rates were high. Although Truganini's name
6256-483: The settler population was preparing for the climax of the Black War . Called the Black Line , it was a 2,200 man strong chain of armed colonists and soldiers to sweep the settled areas looking to kill or trap any Aboriginal people they found. Robinson, Truganini and the other guides were allowed to continue their mission to the north-east, away from the direction of the Black Line. They arrived at Cape Portland in October 1830 having rescued several Indigenous women from
6348-520: The site to Aboriginal people. They refurbished the Indigenous cemetery and placed markers on each of the graves, but these were later vandalised and removed. Eventually in 1996, the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association and the Flinders Municipal Council signed an agreement to hand over the Wybalenna site to the Aboriginal community. In April 1999, the Premier of Tasmania formally transferred
6440-467: The skeleton of Victoria Lanne (the sister of William Lanne ) was also dug up, which Allport sold for the modern equivalent of €3,000 to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences where her remains are still located. In 1970, it was proposed to convert the site into a memorial. The owner at that time, Thomas Morton, agreed to sell the Wybalenna chapel (which he was using as a woolshed) to
6532-419: The slavery of the local sealers, and been joined by the respected warrior Mannalargenna and his small remnant clan. They were informed of the failure of the Black Line to capture or kill many Aboriginal people and it was decided by the government to use the nearby Bass Strait Islands as a place of enforced exile for those Indigenous Tasmanians collected by Robinson. Robinson's first choice of island to confine
6624-482: The survivors to Wybalenna, Robinson returned with his guides to Hobart. Some Aboriginal people were still reported to be residing in the wilderness around Sandy Cape and the Vale of Belvoir , so in early 1834 Robinson set out again with Truganini and the other guides to find them. Before heading west, they firstly attempted to obtain two Aboriginal slaves that were in possession of John Batman at his Kingston estate along
6716-546: The terrors" of life at Wybalenna. In 1835, Robinson had completed his mission of apprehending nearly all of the remaining Palawa on the Tasmanian mainland, with only one family group and perhaps a couple of individuals believed to have escaped being seized. He arrived at Wybalenna in October with his guides and the last batch of captives, and took charge of what remained of the Indigenous Tasmanians, which amounted to approximately 120 people. The process of "civilising"
6808-498: The title of the ‘Wybalenna Aboriginal Station Historic Site’ to the Flinders Island Aboriginal Community. By 2023, further restoration of the nationally significant area at Wybalenna had been minimal due to lack of funding. The L-shaped terrace block remains obliterated and a plaque for the Palawa leader, Mannalargenna , who died at Wybalenna, was smashed and torn out by vandals. A small healing garden memorial
6900-432: The various rivers they encountered. As they made their way up the west coast past Bathurst Harbour and Macquarie Harbour , the "friendly mission" made brief contacts with Ninine and Lowreenne clans. When Truganini and Woureddy were sent to obtain rations at the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island, Robinson was abandoned by his other guides. Alone, starving and debilitated by skin and eye infections, Robinson
6992-474: Was Truganini . Robinson and his group proceeded from the wilderness of southern Tasmania, up the west coast and then along the northern coast. Along the way, he convinced a small number of Palawa to give themselves up, with several others deserting him. However, after a cash bounty of £5 for every Aboriginal adult and £2 for every child captured and brought to Hobart was announced by Arthur, Robinson became more efficient at apprehending Palawa. Bruny Island as
7084-458: Was abandoned in mid October 1847. The Wybalenna site fell into disrepair after the relocation. The L-shaped terrace housing block gradually collapsed and the chapel was converted into a barn in 1854 by the graziers who took possession of the locality. When Thomas Reibey visited in 1862, he noted that the Aboriginal cemetery containing more than 100 graves had been disgracefully neglected, desecrated by roaming livestock. Further desecration of
7176-505: Was allowed to go on extensive hunting journeys across what was once her people's land. She often used a boat to travel across to Bruny Island to dive for crayfish, hunt for swan eggs or collect small shells to make her distinctive necklaces. Demoralisation though set in for the other inmates and the local British settlers encouraged prostitution and alcoholism to thrive at Oyster Cove. Death followed with detainees such as Mathinna dying miserably. According to The Times newspaper, quoting
7268-403: Was an internment facility built at Flinders Island by the colonial British government of Van Diemen's Land to accommodate forcibly exiled Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa) . It was opened in 1833 and ceased operations in 1847. During that period around 180 Palawa were situated at Wybalenna with approximately 130 people dying at the establishment. Around another 25 died while being transported to
7360-452: Was an Orientalist romance by Irish poet Thomas Moore, published in 1817. Truganini was born around 1812 at Recherche Bay ( Lyleatea ) in southern Tasmania. Her father was Manganerer, a senior figure of the Nuenonne people whose country extended from Recherche Bay across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Bruny Island ( Lunawanna-alonnah ). Truganini's mother was probably a Ninine woman from
7452-461: Was away. In April 1833, Robinson returned to lead another expedition to seize the west coast clans, with Truganini, Woureddy and others again chosen as guides. Robinson captured the remaining Ninine by taking captive the child of a prominent man named Towterer which forced the clan to surrender. By July they had captured almost all of the remaining west coast people including the Tarkiner tribe led by
7544-407: Was brought upon Wybalenna with the production of a 1992 documentary film , "Black Man's Houses" directed by Steve Thomas. This included footage of an archaeological survey of the Wybalenna cemetery, which accurately mapped most of the graves of the Palawa buried there. In the early 1990s a group of local Indigenous residents unofficially reclaimed the area to bring pressure on governments to return
7636-478: Was built next to the chapel. Truganini Truganini (c.1812 – 8 May 1876), also known as Lalla Rookh and Lydgugee , was a woman famous for being widely described as the last "full-blooded" Aboriginal Tasmanian to survive British colonisation. Although she was one of the last speakers of the Indigenous Tasmanian languages , Truganini was not the last Aboriginal Tasmanian. She lived through
7728-457: Was changed to Lalla Rookh, she remained otherwise resistant to the enforced changes, defiantly keeping her cultural practices. In March 1836, she and eight others from Wybalenna were chosen as guides for a final expedition led by Robinson's sons to locate a last Indigenous group in north-west Tasmania that had managed to avoid Robinson's previous missions. For sixteen months, this relatively leisurely expedition provided an escape for Truganini from
7820-437: Was decided to shift the approximately 47 survivors to an abandoned convict settlement at Oyster Cove , south of Hobart . Oyster Cove had been abandoned as a convict station due to its infertile soil and unhealthy dampness. The buildings had poor ventilation and were in disrepair, and the new Aboriginal detainees sickened as they did at Wybalenna. However, Oyster Cove was also located in Truganini's home Nuenonne country and she
7912-607: Was decided upon near a place called Pea-Jacket Point (or Settlement Point), and in February 1833 Darling moved the establishment there. The name Wybalenna was given to the location, being derived from the word for "huts" in the language of the people from the Ben Lomond region. It is also translated as "Black Man's Houses". While at The Lagoons, Darling allowed the Aboriginal people stationed there to conduct traditional practices, such as corroborrees , hunting and building their own type of shelters which had good ventilation and access to
8004-472: Was here...he put many of us into jail for talking to him because we would not be his slaves. They also wrote a similar letter to Lieutenant-Governor William Denison . Their campaign was successful in that an enquiry was established and Jeanneret was dismissed. The colonial office in London additionally recommended that the remaining Aborigines at Wybalenna be transferred back to the Tasmanian mainland. Denison, who
8096-403: Was named the "friendly mission". The mission left Bruny Island in early 1830 with Truganini playing a very important role not only as an linguistic interpreter on local Aboriginal language and culture, but also by providing much of the seafood for the group. None of the men in the expedition could swim, so Truganini also did most of the work pushing the other group members on small rafts across
8188-405: Was replaced firstly by Dr Peter Fisher and then by Dr Henry Jeanneret. In 1842, Wybalenna saw the return of seven of the 15 Aborigines who had left with Robinson in 1839 and it also saw the arrival of the last family group of Palawa from mainland Tasmania. This family, which included the child William Lanne , had evaded capture by Robinson but were now exiled to Flinder Island. During this period,
8280-473: Was saved from death by being located by Truganini and Woureddy on their return from the penal colony. By June 1830, the group had reached the north west tip of Van Diemen's Land known as Cape Grim . Here they found that the Van Diemen's Land Company had appropriated a massive area of land for farmland; displacing and massacring the local Tarkiner, Pennemukeer, Pairelehoinner, Peternidic and Peerapper clans in
8372-587: Was soon not able to keep such a large number of assistants, and Truganini with most of the others were left to fend for themselves. Truganini gained income from selling her traditional woven baskets and by offering her company to townsmen and shepherds. Oral histories claimed that she had a child named Louisa Esmai with John Strugnell at Point Nepean in Victoria, but anthropologist Diane Barwick later disproved those claims in 1974. In 1841, Truganini abandoned her husband Woureddy, and ran off with Maulboyheenner ,
8464-532: Was worried about the sealers near Wybalenna having sexual relations with the Palawa females and the rising "half-caste" population on nearby islands, agreed to shut Wybalenna down. In 1847, Jeanneret's replacement as superintendent, Dr Joseph Milligan, oversaw the shutdown of Wybalenna and the transfer of its Aboriginal occupants to Oyster Cove in south-east Tasmania. From 1839 to 1847, a further 30 Palawa had died at Wybalenna, leaving only 47 people to be relocated, including 15 men, 22 women and 10 children. Wybalenna
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