Tasmanian Aborigines, A History Since 1803

by Lyndall Ryan

Tasmanian Aborigines were driven off their land so white settlers could produce fine wool for the English textile mills. By the time Truganini died in 1876, they were considered to be extinct—yet like so many other claims about them, this was wrong. Far from disappearing, the Tasmanian Aborigines actively resisted settler colonialism from the outset and have consistently campaigned for their rights and recognition as a distinct people through to the present. Lyndall Ryan tells the story of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, from before the arrival of the first whites to current political agendas. Tasmania has been the cradle of race relations in Australia, and their struggle for a place in their own country offers insights into the experiences of Aboriginal people nationwide.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Australia, Tasmania, Indigenous

418 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Lyndall Ryan is Professor of Australian Studies at the University of Newcastle and the author of The Aboriginal Tasmanians.

Reviews

[Colin Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressively researched and referenced. An extensive linear report that outlines an essential context to this history.
There was so much that elicited a gut response from me: rage, delight, surprise, empathy, sorrow, discomfort, hope.
I could write volumes about my thoughts on so many injustices. But it’s not about me. It’s about them.

[Matt Garvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Tasmanian needs to read this book

Finally a history that can be trusted that gives a context to understand the complex issues and tragedies that shaped my home state. I’ve been looking for a book like this for 30 years.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like everyone else my age, I learned at school that Tasmanian Aborigines were extinct. We learned that they died of diseases inadvertently introduced by White settlers and that the name of the last Aborigine was Truganini. In the 1970s, when Tasmanian Aboriginal activists came to national prominence, I became aware that this information was wrong. Lyndall Ryan’s new book, Tasmanian Aborigines: A History Since 1803 tells the history of the indigenous people of our island state, and consigns the myth of their extinction to the dustbin. It’s a book every Australian should read.

The Preface gets the stuff about the History Wars out of the way. Let me say as a non-academic, that the sooner this tacky episode in our cultural history is dead and buried, the better. As a non-indigenous Australian, I am interested in the history of the indigenous peoples of this country, and I’m keen to learn from scholars of integrity whose work is accessible to the general reader. Professor Ryan’s book fits my criteria admirably.

The book begins with a biographical sketch of the woman whose portrait is on the front cover: Fanny Cochrane Smith (1834-1905), from the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island. She was the only Tasmanian Aborigine from Wybalenna to leave descendants: she married William Smith, a sawyer and former convict and they had eleven children, six boys and five girls. In 1854, in recognition of her claim as a Tasmanian Aborigine, the colonial government paid her an annuity of £48, increasing it to £100 in 1876 after the death of Truganini, and granting her 300 acres of land. From 1854 to 1857 she ran a boarding house in Hobart and after that she and William took up land at Oyster Cove where she hunted and gathered bush foods and medicines, wove traditional baskets and maintained religious practices. In 1899 and 1903 (more than 20 years after the death of Truganini) she recorded Tasmanian Aboriginal songs on wax cylinders, preserving her people’s musical culture for posterity.

How on earth did the myth that Truganini was the ‘last’ Tasmanian Aborigine ever gain any credence? The answer to that comes late in the book when Ryan explains how her remains were desecrated and put on display in the Hobart Museum: it was populist myth-making backed up by ‘science’. It was also because Tasmanians wanted to believe that their island’s troublesome indigenous people were extinct. It has taken a very long time indeed for this disinformation to be overturned.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/05/13/ta...

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyndall Ryan's 'Tasmanian Aborigines' tells the shocking story of Tasmania's First peoples from 1803 until the present. It tells of the dispossession, Black Wars and genocides against the First peoples by white invaders, their struggle for survival to their present campaigns for land rights, recognition as owners of the land and the repatriation of remains stolen by European scientists and held in various museums around the world.

I was particularly interested in the first section of this book which explores the 40,000+ years of human occupation of Tasmania and looks at the various beliefs and practices of the First peoples before invasion.

Professor Ryan incorporates archaeological evidence in addition to in-depth archival research and oral history to produce a history that while tragic, also highlights the survival and resilience of Tasmania's First peoples. This is an incredibly important book for all Australian's to read in order to better understand the often horrific history of Australia post 1788.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was first interested in this book as I didn’t know much at all about the history of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. I’ve previously read more about First Nations people from NSW, Queensland, WA & Victoria. I highly recommend that you read this book because it is a masterpiece! Lyndall Ryan goes into a lot of depth covering the period prior to European invasion up to the modern day (2010).

The book also contains great maps and other illustrations which are great visual aids and reference points to compliment the text.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the incredible history of Tasmania’s First Nations People and also for the fact that is thoroughly dispels the myth that Tasmanian Aboriginals became an extinct race of people.

[Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learnt so much from this book. Informative and not hard to read. Highly recommend.

[Margaret Tranter · Rating 4 out of 5]

July 2013

Tasmanian Aborigines.

Lyndal Ryan.

A comprehensive and I believe, objective account of Tasmanian Aboriginal history. I found this work to be very readable and enlightening but not emotional. . I am aware that there have been criticisms of some of the statistics and of the detail of particular events but for me this attention to detail was not as important as the overall message that the Tasmanian aboriginal history has been distorted and it is a necessary and a very positive thing that we are being presented a more authentic account than the one most of us learnt at school.

Ryan uses the word “invasion’ when speaking of the coming of the Europeans and this together with the detail of the various attacks and killings made me realize that the occupation of Tasmania was a ‘war’. The period from the late 1820’s when Governor Arthur declared martial law through until the mid 1830’s saw the deaths of over 1000 people ( both black and white) and I found this statistic quite shocking. It was this type of information, the statistics and details of each revenge attack and massacres which awakened an awareness that I had been so accepting of how our history has been presented.. ‘the aborigines attacked the explorers’ type of information. I know there are many accounts of massacres, some even close to where I live, but for some reason it is this book that has touched a nerve.

The other aspect of the book which I found interesting was the detail of ‘land ownership’, mining sites, tools, social organization, language groups within Tasmania.

I certainly feel more informed and am wondering now if I might read The Roving Party (Rohan Wilson)..