>>Just a quick note that although the Tasmanian genocide was particularly nasty,
>>and came very close to exterminating the Aboriginal population, Tasmanian
>>Aborigines in fact survived. Some were removed to Cape Barren Island, some
>>survived in "mainland Tasmania" (a phrase which should give you some idea of
>>the insularity of the joint.) viz. Molly Mallet "My Past -Their Future Stories
>>from Cape Barren Island."
>>
>>But your point stands, of course.
Yes, the point stands. And Tasmanians (or residents of Van Diemans Land) were responsible for what happened of course. The point seems obvious.
As a historical footnote, I recall that 25 years ago Tasmanian aboriginals came up against this very problem when they began to organise to improve their lot. The first reaction of conservatives was to the effect that, "Oh bugger off, there are no Tasmanian aborigines, they're extinct." In fact, a popular local saying when I was a young fellow was "I thought that went out with the blacks."
But of course it was difficult to be ignorant of the fact that there were still aborigines around. I was brought up in a marginal back-block near a place called Reedy Marsh, and our second-most nearest neighbours were an aboriginal family that lived about 2 miles down the "road".
Their hovel was even more modest than the one my family lived in, not that any of us knew any better in those days. (That area is crawling with old hippies these days, who bought up the cheap land back in the late 70's)
Later on, in my teenage years, it was "popular knowledge" that the aborigines would stick together if tackled. It was thus considered wise to avoid provoking them in the pubs, unless you could count on similar solidarity from a large band of mates.
You get the picture. The small Aboriginal population suffered considerable discrimination. Particularly as the Cape Barren aborigines who were allowed to come back to the mainland from their exile on the Bass Strait Islands were distinguished by being the members of a handful of families, so just the mention of the name Maynard, Mansell or Everett, was all it took to alert someone to your aboriginal status. I don't imagine that being discriminated against on the basis of an identity that was officially denied to you, made the discrimination any easier bear.
Despite the contradiction, the conservative reaction to demands for aboriginal rights was that there were no aborigines. They insisted that the survivors were merely mixed bloods, not aborigines and had no right to compensation for the injustices suffered. No wonder Mike Mansell took that little trip to Libya to meet with Colonel Gaddafi. That concentrated their minds a bit, at least I don't recall hearing any more about Tasmanian aborigines being mere phantoms since then.
I mention this to alert Doug to the fact that it is now considered somewhat politically incorrect to infer that Tasmanian Aborigines are extinct. Of course I take little notice of correctness and Doug doesn't seem to take it too seriously either, but one ought to at least know what the significance might be.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas