~boriginal Society in North West Tasmania: Dispossession and Genocide by Ian McFarlane B.A. (Hons) submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania October 2002 Statement of Authorship This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the _University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no material previously published or written by another person, except where due acknowledgment is made in the text of the thesis. 31 lf?~?.. Zoo-z.. Signed ...... /~ .. ~ .. 'f.-!~.. D at e ..............................t.,. .. Statement of authority of access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. stgne. d............................................... J._ ~~-1-- . 19 March 2002 Abstract Aboriginal Society in North West Tasmania: Dispossession and Genocide As the title indicates this study is restricted to those Aboriginal tribes1 located in the North West region of Tasmania. This approach enables the regional character and diversity of Aboriginal communities to be brought into focus; it also facilitates an . ex:a.miJ,lation of the QJlique process of dispossession that took place in the North West region, an area totally under the control of the Van Diemen's Land Company (VDL Co). Issues dealing with entitlement to ownership and sovereignty will be established by an examination of t~e structure and function of traditional. Aboriginal Societies in the region, as well as the, occupation and use they made of their lands. Early contact history with the Europ~ is examined to demonstrate that there was a real possibility of developing productive relationships with the indigenous inhabitants at the time the VDL Co1dok up their land grants,. The character of the VDL Co manager Edward Curr, hls role in the development of the VDL Co and hls harsh treatment of those under his authority, including the Aborigines is also an important area of study. While Company Directors were prepared to countenance the dispossession of the Aborigines and consequent destruction of their . culture, .Curr was content to preside over their physical destruction. Thls thesis will demonstrate that Edward Curr persistently ignored instructions from his Directors to the contrary and created, fostered· and supported ail ethos that encouraged the systematic eradication of the Aboriginal population on See pages 7-8 for a d.iscussio~ on the Use of the terms baiuis and tribes. allocated Company hmds. In 1834, after only eight years under the care of Curr's administration, less than one sixth of the original Aboriginal inhabitants had survived to be taken into exile by the Friendly Mission. Robinson's Friendly Mission provided the main physical contact between the North West Aborigines and Arthur's administration. Thus the activities of the Friendly Mission and its role in removing many of the Aborigines, by force in many cases, is detailed, as is their treatment and condition at the Wybalenna Establishment. The history of the North West Aboriginal tribes will continue by tracing the events . ' and experiences that followed the exile to Flinders Island and Oyster Cove, concluding with the death in 1857 of the last survivor of the North West population. It will be established thttt the genocide perpetrated against these tribes, was init~ated as part of local VDL' Co policy, a process exacerbated through colonial. administrative expediency and brought to completion by neglect. ': ... ~ . .,- 'f Finally, there is a brief review of the popular ideologies concerning race, current during the period under study and the extent to which these ideas moulded attitudes · and policies relating to Aborigines both in the North West and in general. Acknowledgements The first reference in this section naturally goes to my Supervisor, Professor Henry Reynolds in appreciation of his support, direction and guidance· throughout this whole process. lam indebted to Char Wylie, a proud descendent ofWorete.moete.yenner; for her enthusiastic support and encouragement, as well as to Sue McDonald, Librarian and custodian of the Burnie Library Local History Collection for her cheerful help and assistance. I am also obliged to Brian Rollins, Land. Surveyor and Secretary' of the Burnie History Society who kindly mapped the Aboriginal sites at Freestone Cove. Table of Contents Introduction i- ix Chapter One Land Occupancy and Use I- 44 Chapter Two. First Contacts 45-72 Chapter Three Van Diemen's Land Company 73- 100 Dispossession Chapter Four Van Diemen's Land Company 101 - 144 Genocide Chapter Five Colonial Administration 145- 195 Chapter Six Resistance 196-210 Chapter Seven ·Exile . 211-229 Chapter Eight Aftermath 230-254 Post S9ript 255-269 Bibliography 270-282 Appendix One·· VanDiemen's Land Cempany Land Grants 283 < . ·~ . i ~ Appendix Two Tribes and Territories 284 Appendix Three Map of Freestone Cove 285 Appendix Four Table Cape Map (1856) 286 Appendix Five Map.ofNorth West Region 287 Appendix Six Tasmanian Fire Drills 288 Appendix Seven Aboriginal Nomenclature 289-292 for the North West Region Appendix Eight Tribal Migration Routes 293 Appendix Nine Thomas Watson's Deposition 294-296 Appendix Ten Table of Names associated with the 297-299 North West Region List of Maps and Illustrations "Natives fishing. Flinders Island Feby.45, watercolour by Simpk:inson 12 Photograph of Aboriginal Fish Trap at Freestone Cove, Table Cape 14 Petroglyph at Mount Cameron West 28 Baudin's Corvettes Geographe and Naturaliste 45 Map of Bass Strait and Furneaux Group oflslands 46 · · Crestofthe Van Diemen,'s Land Company· 73 "Study of an aboriginal family" by Thomas Bock 101 "Attack on a Settler's Hut" possibly by James Bonwick 196 Map ofVDL Co Establishments in the Hills 203 "Residence of the Aborigines, Flinders Island" by John Skinner Prout 211. "Pevay" by Thomas Bock 230 "The .first. execution"'• ' W.F.E.'·.. Liardet1 . 244 Introduction An important aim of this thesis will be to dispel any notion that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was Terra nullius, or even seriously considered so by the colonial authorities at the time of European settlement. 1 Consequently, the British settlement commencing in 1803 constituted a territorial invasion rather than the simple process of c occupation as claimed under the British law of possessions at the time. As C. Clark observed: Colonies, are acquired by conquest, by cession under treaty, or by occupancy. By occupancy, where an uninhabited country is discovered by British subjects, and is upon such discovery adopted or recognised by the British Crown as part of its possessions... In case a colony be acquired by occupancy the law of England, then in being, is immediately and ipso facto in force in the new settlement New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were acquired by discovery or simple occupation? In 1889 the Privy Council provided a legal definition of 'Terra nullius' that granted official approval at the highest level for the claim that in 1788 Australia had been "practically unoccupied, without settled inhabitants". 3 Thus Australia's indigenous people became subjects of the Crown answerable to British law whilst enjoying few of the rights of citizenship normally granted to British nationals. The wholesale acquisition of their entire lands by the Crown meant that any attempts on their part to protect hunting grounds or resist dispossession could only be viewed under British A position made largely untenable by extensive French anthropological studies of the Aboriginal population made prior to British occupation. 2 Justice Willis quoting the leading British authority on colonial law in a judgment on an Aboriginal offender in New South Wales see Reynolds, Henry. Dispossession. St Leonards, Allen & Unwin. 1989. p.69 3 ibid., p.68 law as criminal activities. 4 Rendered powerless, without the protection of either treaty or civic rights, the interests of the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land were simply swept aside in the rush to establish the Colony. A popular and often cited authority on the occupation of 'practically unoccupied' lands was the Law of Nations written by the Swiss jurist Emmerich de Vattel. Selective extracts taken from the Law of Nations were commonly used at the time to justify colonial expansion. In 1834 Charles Clark paraphrased a passage from Vattel in his Summary of Colonial Law " ... the people of Europe, too closely pent up at home, finding land of which savages stood in no particular need, and of which they made no actual and constant use were lawfully entitled to take possession of it, and settle it with colonies". 5 However, Clark neglected to mention that in the same passage Vattel went on to express his admiration for the Puritan settlers of New England who paid the 'savages' for the lands they wished to occupy. 6 This example of a New England land transaction contained two elements that Vattel considered praiseworthy, consent from the Indians and moderation in land demands on the part of the Puritans. These were principles quite alien to the British Colonial Office, in fact Vattel provided little support for those who wished to " ... take to themselves more land than they have need of or can inhabit and cultivate". 7 The British claim that Tasmania was settled by occupation was to create many problems for Arthur's administration in dealing with the all too present Aborigines. 4 Ryan, Lyndall. The Aboriginal Tasmanians (2nd Ed). St. Leonards, Allen & Unwin. 1996. p.73 5 Reynolds, Henry. op.cit., p.70 6 Vattel de, Emer. The Law of Nations or The Principles Of Natural Law. 2 Vols. (1758). New York, Oceana Publications Inc. 1964. pp. 85-86 7 ibid., p.85 11 The difficulty in reconciling the fiction of Terra nullius with the reality faced by settlers on the ground became all too evident as Aboriginal resistance to dispossession gradually stiffened to the-point of all out war by 1826.