Tasmania’s aborigines
Tasmania’s aborigines walked to Tasmania 40,000 years ago.
The last ice age ended 12,000 years ago. The ice melted; the seas rose; Bass Strait cut Tasmania’s aborigines off from the mainland. The Tasmanian aborigine were unable to communicate with mainland aborigines.
Tasmanian Aborigines lived as extended families of 15/50 people. The families or clans belonged to a band. Different areas of Tasmania had different bands. In Tasmania the different bands had various types of connections with other bands. Marriage, trade, hostility. Slightly different dialects.
Palawa. Primarily nomadic.
Diet: Little scaled fish; shellfish; seals; coastal birds; possums; kangaroos and wallabies; native flora.
Fire stored coals in wrapped bark. Fire used for warmth, cooking, tool hardening and clearing vegetation.
Basket making: To carry food, tools, shells, ochre. Kelp baskets to carry water.
Necklaces from shells: Adornment. This tradition remains.
Ochre: Battles and funerals. Body markings, wood, baskets.
Ceremonies: Dancing and singing.
Wooden spears tipped with stone. Clubs.
Rock carvings helped define their stories and culture. In 2019 a museum retuned some aboriginal rock carvings. Petroglyphs. They were 3-8,00 years old.
In the future all Tasmanians will see the rock carvings where they were carved. They will know the creation story told in the carvings. They will respect all communities and people who had a close connection to these petroglyphs.
The Palawa named their environment. Some of these names sensitively explain the environment and are being resurrected.
1790-1803: Sealers began visiting the Bass St islands late 1790s.
They traded with Tasmanian Aborigines. Hunting dogs; flour; tea; tobacco; kangaroo skins.
It is possible that the sealers introduced diseases which killed aborigines. Especially the children.
1803: 5-10,000 Palawa.
1803-: Conflict between British settlers and the original inhabitants (Palawa).
Conflict over common food. Oysters and wallabies.
Conflict over women. Few women in European community. British men abducted and took aboriginal women as sexual partners.
Kidnapping of aboriginal children for labour occurred.
Governor Davey and Governor Sorell both issued orders saying don’t kidnap children.
Conflict over land. Settlers turned land into farms. They replaced kangaroos with sheep.
1810: About 50 European men (ex-military, ex-convicts and free settlers) and aboriginal women became permanent residents of the Bass St Islands.
1830 The Black line.
1828-1832: The Black War.
No set piece battles. Many small deadly skirmishes. One estimate of deaths: 200 Europeans, 600-900 aboriginals. No victory march at end of Black War. The moral of the aborigines was such that most went with Robinson to Flinders Island.
1835: 200-400 Palawa.
1835: George Augustus Robinson persuaded some aborigines to go to Flinders Island.
1847: 47 aborigines moved from Flinders Island to Oyster cove.
2011 census: 19,000 Tasmanian aborigines. All Tasmanian aboriginals alive today have a mixed heritage. Heritage that includes both European and aboriginal antecedents.
The last ice age ended 12,000 years ago. The ice melted; the seas rose; Bass Strait cut Tasmania’s aborigines off from the mainland. The Tasmanian aborigine were unable to communicate with mainland aborigines.
Tasmanian Aborigines lived as extended families of 15/50 people. The families or clans belonged to a band. Different areas of Tasmania had different bands. In Tasmania the different bands had various types of connections with other bands. Marriage, trade, hostility. Slightly different dialects.
Palawa. Primarily nomadic.
Diet: Little scaled fish; shellfish; seals; coastal birds; possums; kangaroos and wallabies; native flora.
Fire stored coals in wrapped bark. Fire used for warmth, cooking, tool hardening and clearing vegetation.
Basket making: To carry food, tools, shells, ochre. Kelp baskets to carry water.
Necklaces from shells: Adornment. This tradition remains.
Ochre: Battles and funerals. Body markings, wood, baskets.
Ceremonies: Dancing and singing.
Wooden spears tipped with stone. Clubs.
Rock carvings helped define their stories and culture. In 2019 a museum retuned some aboriginal rock carvings. Petroglyphs. They were 3-8,00 years old.
In the future all Tasmanians will see the rock carvings where they were carved. They will know the creation story told in the carvings. They will respect all communities and people who had a close connection to these petroglyphs.
The Palawa named their environment. Some of these names sensitively explain the environment and are being resurrected.
1790-1803: Sealers began visiting the Bass St islands late 1790s.
They traded with Tasmanian Aborigines. Hunting dogs; flour; tea; tobacco; kangaroo skins.
It is possible that the sealers introduced diseases which killed aborigines. Especially the children.
1803: 5-10,000 Palawa.
1803-: Conflict between British settlers and the original inhabitants (Palawa).
Conflict over common food. Oysters and wallabies.
Conflict over women. Few women in European community. British men abducted and took aboriginal women as sexual partners.
Kidnapping of aboriginal children for labour occurred.
Governor Davey and Governor Sorell both issued orders saying don’t kidnap children.
Conflict over land. Settlers turned land into farms. They replaced kangaroos with sheep.
1810: About 50 European men (ex-military, ex-convicts and free settlers) and aboriginal women became permanent residents of the Bass St Islands.
1830 The Black line.
1828-1832: The Black War.
No set piece battles. Many small deadly skirmishes. One estimate of deaths: 200 Europeans, 600-900 aboriginals. No victory march at end of Black War. The moral of the aborigines was such that most went with Robinson to Flinders Island.
1835: 200-400 Palawa.
1835: George Augustus Robinson persuaded some aborigines to go to Flinders Island.
1847: 47 aborigines moved from Flinders Island to Oyster cove.
2011 census: 19,000 Tasmanian aborigines. All Tasmanian aboriginals alive today have a mixed heritage. Heritage that includes both European and aboriginal antecedents.