1. Tasmanian Aboriginal History and Land Rights. Lesson 3.
Please note this is Appendix C.
Presented by Mrs Benson and Mr Jenssen
Please note this presentation depicts persons that have since passed.
If you would like a copy of the presentation without pictures/video please request one from your teacher.

2. Acknowledgement to Country
“We acknowledge and pay respect to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community as the traditional and original owners and continuing custodians of this land.”
Retrieved from:

3. An ancient history.
In the past, historians would have led us to believe our history in Tasmania begins with the arrival of the Europeans in However, this view fails to recognise the Aboriginals who had lived on, and called this land home for thousands of years.
Research suggests Aborigines arrived in Tasmania at least 40,000 years ago when the island was still joined to mainland Australia by a land bridge known as the Bassian Plain.
Approximately 10,000 years ago, a global rise in air and seawater temperatures caused the melting of the polar ice caps resulting in the sea rising and forming what we now know as Bass Strait.
Due to the work of archaeologists, we now know a number of Aborigines must have migrated to Tasmania before the flooding. This island, with a land mass of 67, 870 square kilometres, was known to the Tasmanian Aborigines as ‘Trouwunna’.
Image sourced from:
Source: Ryan, 2012

4. Before the boat people arrived
At the time of European Invasion in 1803 there were nine nations in Trouwunna, the largest of which is now referred to as the Oyster Bay nation (see image right).
Whilst the exact number is disputed, it is believed there were up to 100 Aboriginal clans, totalling between approximately 4,000 and 6,000 people.
The European settlers developed beliefs that the Aboriginals were nothing but “savages” and used this to justify killing them to the point of near extinction.
Image sourced from:
Source: Ryan, 2012

5. Tasmanian Aboriginal History after 1788
September the Britons, led by Lieutenant John Bowden, start the first European settlement in Risdon Cove, Tasmania. The island was colonized by the British as a penal colony under the name ‘Van Diemen's Land,’ and became part of the British colony of New South Wales.
The ‘battle’ of Risdon Cove.
Free settlers and their families continued to arrive in Van Diemen’s Land and by 1830, the colonial population had reached 23,500.
George Augustus Robinson begins reconciliation efforts with the Aborigines.
Marks the end of martial law against Aborigines. This reign of terror between 1828 – 1832 is know today as “The Black War.”
1833 – Approximately 200 surviving Tasmanian Aboriginals are moved to Wybalenna Establishment on Flinders Island.
Source: Ryan, 2012

6. Tasmanian Aboriginal History after 1788 cont.
 The last 47 living inhabitants of Wybalenna are transferred to Oyster Cove.
Trugannini, thought to be the last Tasmanian full blooded Aborigine, died in Hobart.
Early 1900’s to 1980 – The Stolen Generation.
Tasmanian joined other states in approving full constitutional rights for Aborigines.
1995 – The passage of the Aboriginal Land Act.
Tasmania became the first state to formally apologise to Aboriginal communities for past actions connected with the Stolen Generation.
Kevin Rudd becomes the first Australian Prime Minister to give a public apology to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Federal Government. The Tasmanian Aboriginals were also awarded $5m in compensation to the stolen generation.
Source: Ryan, 2012

7. The extinction of the Tasmanian Aborigines.
When Trugannini died in 1876, many white Tasmanians believed the colony was now “completely native free”. This was not the case.
In fact, there were still families known to be settled near Oyster Cove, Launceston and Kangaroo Island.
The largest group of surviving Tasmanian Aboriginals was the Islander Community, who lived on islands near Wybalenna.
The Islander Community was scattered throughout the Furneaux Group of islands.
Image retrieved from Ryan, 2012, p. 278
Source: Ryan, 2012, p. 275

8. Tasmanian Aborigines land rights.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) has become the focus of Aboriginal activism in Tasmania.
Their main objective is to:
Gain recognition and rights for the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.
To call for the return of Aboriginal land in Tasmania as well as the remains of their ancestors being held in museums.
In 1977 a petition was presented to Queen Elizabeth II whilst on her visit to Hobart. It called for the return of sacred Aboriginal sites such as:
Wyabalenna Historic Site on Flinders Island.
All mutton bird islands.
Cape Barren Island.
Cape Grim.
Risdon and Oyster Cove.
Almost 20 years later in 1995, the Aboriginal Land Act passed legislation allowing the Aboriginal Land Council to own and manage 13 parcels of land including Cape Barren Island, Oyster Cove and Risdon Cove.
Source: Ryan, 2012

9. Land hand backs
In 1999, the Bacon Labor Government returned the Wybalenna Historic site back to the Aboriginals. Then Premier Jim Bacon stated “You can’t change history but you can address past injustices”.
In 2001 a bill was passed to return another 5000 hectares of land to the Aboriginal community, but it was rejected by the Legislative Council. It was rejected again in 2004.
Finally on March 23, 2005, the bill was passed in the Legislative Council “amid scenes of jubilation” . This was a defining moment in Tasmania’s history as it was the first time that land occupied by Aboriginal people was returned to them.
Parliament House, Hobart
Source: Ryan, 2012, p. 345
Image sourced from:

10. Map of Aboriginal sites handed back to Tasmanian Aborigines
Image retrieved from Ryan, 2012, p. 351

11. Multimedia References
Reynolds, H. (2012). A History of Tasmania. Sydney, NSW: Cambridge University Press.
Ryan, L. (2012). Tasmanian Aborigines: A History since NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.
Multimedia References
Traditional Tribes of Tasmania tribes [image]. Retrieved from: Tasmania.jpg
Bassian Plain [image]. Retrieved from:
Parliament House, Hobart [image]. Retrieved from:
All other images were retrieved from : Ryan., L. (2012). Tasmanian Aborigines: A History since NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.