The Last of the Tasmanians

Front matter

FERN TREE VALLEY NEAR HOBART TOWN

THE

LAST OF THE TASMANIANS;

Chapter 1

THE LAST OF THE TASMANIANS.

CHAPTER I.

VOYAGERS' TALES OF THE TASMANIANS.

It was at the close of 1642 that a couple of small Dutch vessels were struggling with the rough billows of the Southern Ocean, Their prows were plunging into unknown seas. The adventurous commander, Abel Jansen Tasman, sought new fields of discovery, new homes for his roving, thrifty countrymen. Glistening peaks of quartz ranges emerged from the waters. A white crest adorned the eastern horizon for many miles, succeeded by darker columnar masses of rock. A stormy bay was traversed, a frowning peninsula was rounded, and in a little cove the weary voyagers found rest and shelter. The startling novelties of that southern land, its charming climate, its animate and inanimate wonders, attracted attention and extorted applause. A name must be given to it. In the colony from which the captain had sailed, the Dutch settlement of Java, lived a fair girl, the daughter of the governor, whose sweet image followed the wanderings of the good ship Zeehaarn. Tasman called the country after the name of herself and parent,—Van Diemen's Land.

But my object is to introduce the sailor's first notice of the inhabitants of this new region,—the hapless Tasmanians. I cannot do better than give an extract from his journal:—

"I anchored," said Tasman, "on the 1st of December, in a bay which I called the Bay of Frederick Henry. I heard, or at least fancied I heard the sound of people upon the shore; but I saw nobody. All I met with worth observing was two trees, which were two fathoms or two fathoms and a half in girth, and sixty or sixty-five feet high from the roots to the branches. They had cut with a flint a sort of steps in the bark, in order to climb up to the birds'-nests. These steps were at the distance of five feet from each other; so that we must conclude that either these people are of prodigious size, or that they have some way of climbing trees that we are not used to. In one of the trees the steps were so fresh, that we judged they could not have been cut above four days. The noise we heard resembled the noise of some sort of trumpet; it seemed to be at no great distance, but we saw no living creature notwithstanding. I perceived also, in the sand, the marks of wild beasts' feet, resembling those of a tiger, or some such creature. I observed smoke in several places; however, we did nothing more than set up a post, on which every one cut his name or his mark, and upon which I hoisted a flag."

The steps cut in the bark were not, however, for the search after birds'-nests, but for the capture of opossums. The trumpet sound could be none other than the coo-ee of the foresters assembling the tribe, doubtless to consider the mysterious invasion of their land by the white-faced and pantalooned strangers.

As the Dutchmen sailed away in a day or two, they had no opportunity of intercourse with the wild men of the woods. But the visit was a memorable one; and posterity, in spite of the worthy old governor and his beautiful daughter, have recorded their estimate of the good fortune of the captain, by calling the southern isle Tasmania.

The first French navigator who came to the fair island was Marion du Fresne. He had heard of the discovery by Tasman, and paid a visit to the spot on which the Dutch had landed, Frederick Henry Bay. He arrived there in two vessels, on the 4th of March, 1772. The French author, Domény de Rienzi, informs us that "the Aborigines came with confidence down to the boats, and remained near the French, with their children and their wives." As this was the first time the Tasmanians had come in contact with Europeans, it is pleasing to record this evidence of their frank cordiality with the strangers. A number of presents, usually most esteemed by savage nations, were dis tributed among them. M. Rienzi then proceeds with the story of the conflict,—the first blood drawn by the whites:—

"About an hour after the French landed, Captain Marion landed. Advancing in front of him, one of the Aborigines offered him a lighted firebrand, that he might set light to a heap of wood heaped up on the flat shore. Marion took it, believing that it was a formality intended to give confidence to the savages; but hardly had the little pile of wood been enflamed, when the Aborigines retired in mass toward a little height, from which they threw afterwards a volley of stones, which wounded the two captains. They (the French) repelled them by several discharges of musket. They killed one aborigine and wounded several others, and the others fled howling towards the woods."

From another historian of the voyage we learn other particulars. A party of thirty Natives came down, the women carrying their children behind their backs, fastened on with ropes of rushes. The men were said to be carrying pointed sticks (spears) and stone axes. Presents of pieces of iron, looking-glasses, handkerchiefs, &c., were laid before them, but were rejected with sulky disdain. Some ducks and geese were tendered, but were angrily thrown back again. The fire-stick was presented to a sailor first, and afterwards to the captain. But evidently the act, supposed to be friendly, was taken in another spirit. They might have regarded it as a proof that the strangers intended an establishment upon their own hunting-grounds. The historian adds: "This was no sooner done, than they retired precipitately to a small hill, and threw a shower of stones, by which Captain Marion and the commander of the Castries were both wounded." Shots, of course, replied to the stones, and the Frenchmen returned to their boats. Sending their women backward to the covert of the forest, the wild men ran along the shore after their foes. The sailors put back towards the land to arrest the pursuit. At this moment an old chief assumed the leadership, and raised a hideous war-cry, when a storm of spears answered to his call. Fifteen Frenchmen now chased the assailants, and by their destructive fire killed and wounded several of them.

The unfortunate Marion met with his death in New Zealand. Though a French author describes his countrymen as being fattened for thirty-two days, to be eaten on the thirty-third, yet it is known that the New Zealanders treated them well till they polluted their sacred places, cooked food with tapued wood, and put two chiefs in irons. May they not have conducted themselves as ill in Tasmania, so as to incur the displeasure of the natives, and neglected to note the circumstance in their journal?

Captain Furneaux, of the Resolution, having got separated from his commander. Captain Cook, found himself off the south of Van Diemen's Land, in March 1773. Want of curiosity or opportunity gave him no tale to tell of the people in person, though he gathered some information of the country. Examining, on Bruni Island, a deserted wigwam, as he called a break-wind, he found a stone; he thereupon jumped to the conclusion that the Tasmanians, like the Fuegians, used a stone with tinder of bark for obtaining fire. He supposed them ignorant of metals, and left in the hut nails, gun-flints, medals, and an old barrel. There could not be a large population, he thought, as he found but three or four huts in one place. Observing no evidence of the use of any appliances of civilization, he regarded the Natives, as he said, "altogether, from what we could judge, a very ignorant and wretched sort of people, though natives of a country capable of producing every necessary of life, and a climate the finest in the world."

Passing to the eastward, Captain Furneaux ran along the eastern coast, passing Schoutens. Then he entered this passage in his journal: "The country here appears to be very thickly inhabited, as there was a continual fire along-shore as we sailed." He was now desirous of making some acquaintance with the Aborigines; but he said, "The weather being bad, we could not send a boat on shore to have any intercourse with the inhabitants."

Captain Cook entered Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, on January 26th, 1777. Anxious to fall in with the Natives, he went with a party of marines some miles into the bush. A rustling as of a wild beast disturbing them, they looked, and saw a girl, naked and alone. They soothed their terrified prisoner by binding a handkerchief round her neck, and placing a cap upon her head. They then allowed her to depart. Soon after, eight men and a boy approached without fear; one only had a weapon, which is supposed to have been a waddy. In his "Voyages" there is this account of their physical condition: —"They were quite naked, and wore no ornaments, unless we consider as such some large punctures in different parts of their bodies, some in straight, and others in curved lines. The men were of the middle stature, but rather slender. Their skin and hair were black; and the latter as woolly as that of any native of Guinea; but they were not distinguished by remarkably thick lips, nor flat noses. On the contrary, their features were far from being disagreeable. They had pretty good eyes; and their teeth were tolerably even, but very dirty. Most of them had their hair and beards smeared with a red ointment, and some had also their faces painted with the same composition. When some bread was offered them, as soon as they understood it was to be eaten, they either returned, or threw it away, without tasting it."

A couple of pigs were brought ashore to turn adrift; but the Natives seized them by the ears and carried them off, doubtless to eat them. A musket was fired, when the party fled in great dismay. But the little girl returned, and brought several females with her. Of these it was remarked that they "wore a kangaroo skin fastened over their shoulders, the only use for which seemed to be to support their children on their backs, for it left those parts uncovered which modesty directs us to conceal. Their bodies were black, and marked with scars like those of the men; from whom, however, they differed, in having their heads shaved—some of them being completely shorn, others only on one side, while the rest of them had the upper part of their heads shaved, leaving a very narrow circle of hair all round. They were far from being handsome; however, some of our gentlemen paid their addresses to them, but without effect. That the gallantry of some of our people was not very agreeable to the men, is certain; for an elderly man, as soon as he observed it, ordered the women and children to retire, which they all did, but some with a little reluctance."

Cook was surprised at their indifference to presents, and disregard of iron, fish-hooks, &c. They lived "like beasts of the forest, in roving parties, without arts of any kind, sleeping in summer like dogs, under the hollow sides of trees, or in the wattled huts made with the low branches of evergreen shrubs, stuck in the ground at small distances from each other, and meeting together at the top." On another occasion, falling in with a party of twenty, Cook was better pleased; and it was said of them, "Nor do they seem to be such miserable wretches as the Natives whom Dampier mentions to have seen on the western coast of New Holland."

Captain Cook's surgeon, Mr. Anderson, had several interviews with these people. From the account of his visit we read: "They had little of that fierce or wild appearance common to people in their situation; but, on the contrary, seemed mild and cheerful, without reserve or jealousy of strangers." He had no great belief in their mental superiority to other savages; for he says, "They have to appearance even less genius than the half-animated inhabitants of Terra del Fuego." Again, "Their not expressing that surprise which one might have expected from their seeing men so much unlike themselves, and things to which, we are well assured, they had been hitherto utter strangers; their indifference for our presents, and their general inattention, were sufficient proofs of their not possessing any acuteness of understanding."

Captain Cook thought it probable that the people belonged to the same family as those of Tanna and Manicola, whom he had recently visited, and that from New Holland eastward to Easter Island they might have a common root. He is constrained to admit that "the circumstances and progress of their separation are wrapped in the darkest veil of obscurity."

The navigator was struck with the superior virtue of the Tasmanian women over the more polished Polynesians. His remarks upon the conduct of Europeans toward savage women are worthy of citation here. He describes it as "highly blameable, as it creates a jealousy in their men, that may be attended with consequences fatal to the success of the common enterprise, and to the whole body of adventurers, without advancing the private purpose of the individual, or enabling him to gain the object of his wishes. I believe it has been generally found among uncivilized people, that where the women are easy of access, the men are the first to offer them to strangers; and that where this is not the case, neither the allurements of presents, nor the opportunity of privacy, will be likely to have the desired effect. This observation will, I am sure, hold good throughout all the parts of the South Seas where I have been. Why then should men act so absurd a part, as to risk their own safety, and that of all their companions, in pursuit of a gratification which they have no probability of obtaining?"

Captain Bligh, so celebrated in the early annals of Australia, paid two visits to Van Diemen's Land. He went sixteen years before its settlement, and four years after that event. The first time he appeared a voyager among a barbarous people. On the next occasion he came as ex-governor, exiled by a rebellious colony, and soliciting in vain assistance from his quomdam, subordinate, the ruler of Hobart Town. In 1788, he spent twelve days in Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, and observed the English record upon a tree, "A.D. 1773." He exhibited a disposition to benevolence, as Captain Fumeaux had done, in planting apples, vines, oranges, cherries, plums, and other trees, together with potatoes, cabbages, and onions. The early settlers make no mention of these when they colonized the little island. Sailors are not proverbial for their skill in planting, although the season, being the spring-month of September, was favourable to their exertions.

The French historian, Domény de Rienzi, refers to Bligh at Adventure Bay, in some mistake: "Not being able to land because of the breaking of the waves, he caused presents to be thrown to the natives, which they disdained." But coming in contact with them at Frederick Henry Bay, near the scene of Tasman's visit in 1642, Captain Bligh has this relation of the tribe there:—

"Soon after we heard their voices, like the cackling of geese, and twenty persons came out of the wood, twelve of whom went round to some rocks, where the boat could get nearer to the shore than we then were. Those who remained behind were women. We approached about twenty yards of them; but there was no possibility of landing, and I could only throw to the shore, tied up in paper, the presents which I intended for them. I showed the different articles as I tied them up; but they would not untie the paper till I made an appearance of leaving them. They then opened the parcels, and, as they took the articles out, placed them on their heads. On seeing this I ventured toward them, when they instantly put everything out of their hands, and would not appear to take notice of anything that we had given them. After throwing a few more beads and iron on shore, I made signs for them to go to the ship, and they likewise made signs for me to land; and as this could not be effected, I left them, in hopes of a nearer interview at the watering place. When they first came in sight, they made a prodigious chattering in their speech, and held their arms over their heads."

Elsewhere he adds: "They talked to us, sitting on their heels, with their knees close to their armpits, and were perfectly naked." His last observations are founded upon the information of another: "The account which I had from Brown, the botanist's assistant, was, that in his search for plants, he had met an old man, a young woman, and two or three children. The old man at first appeared alarmed, but became familiar on being presented with a knife. He nevertheless sent away the young woman, who went away very reluctantly. He saw some miserable wigwams, in which were nothing but a few kangaroo skins spread on the ground, and a basket made of rushes."

Among the first-fruits of the French Revolution were a generous impulse toward suffering humanity, a chivalrous desire for universal brotherhood, and a remarkable development of science. To these circumstances perhaps we owe the celebrated voyages of discovery conducted by Admiral D'Entrecasteaux, of the Recherche and Espérance, in April 1792, and by Admiral Baudin, of the Géographe and Naturaliste, in 1802. The historian of the first was the amiable naturalist, M. Labillardière, and that of the second was the susceptible naturalist, M. Peron. The latter, however, did not live to complete the narrative, which, some years after, was carried on by Lieutenant Freycinet, who subsequently commanded in a similar enterprise under the Restoration.

As in some other expeditions of our Gallic neighbours, there was a want of prudence and foresight, a defect of discipline, and a loss of material resources, connected with the ships of M. D'Entrecasteaux, which occasioned much misery on board, and frustrated the purposes of discovery. But our concern is simply with the observations upon the Tasmanians. The Storm Bay of Tasman was avoided, and so the channel between an island and the mainland led the seamen past the mouth of a noble river, up to near the future site of Hobart Town, Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux named the island after his own first name, and the channel after the second; the river was called Huon, after Captain Huon Kermandée, second in command. A second visit was paid by the expedition in the following year.

The Natives, of whom they had heard something from the voyages of Captain Cook and Captain Marion, were great objects of curiosity to the prying Frenchmen. They had considerable amusement with the looking-glass, and great fun with an ape, the tricks of which produced roars of laughter. The introduction of a goat excited much astonishment. A burning-glass, after setting a piece of bark on fire, was made to give practical evidence of its powers on the thigh of a stalwart savage. If the loud laugh "bespeak the vacant mind," our dark friends illustrated their ignorance. M. Labillardière thus records his interview with one company:—

"We got ready a few cartridges as fast as we could, and set out towards the place where we had seen the Natives. It was now only nine o'clock. We had gone only a few steps before we met them. The men and youths were ranged in front, nearly in a semicircle; the women, children, and girls were a few paces behind. As their manner did not appear to indicate any hostile design, I hesitated not to go up to the oldest, who accepted, with a very good grace, a piece of biscuit I offered him, of which he had seen me eat. I then held out my hand to him, as a sign of friendship, and had the pleasure to perceive that he comprehended my meaning very well. He gave me his, inclining himself a little, and raising at the same time the left foot, which he carried backward in proportion as he bent his body forward. These motions were accompanied by a pleasing smile. (Worthy of a polished Parisian!)

"My companions also advanced up to the others, and immediately the best understanding prevailed among us. They received with great joy the neckcloths which we offered them. The young people approached nearer to us; and one of them had the generosity to give me a few small shells of the whelk kind, pierced near the middle, and strung like a necklace. This ornament, which he called Canlaride, was the only one he possessed, and he wore it round his head. A handkerchief supplied the place of this present, gratifying the utmost wishes of my savage, who advanced towards me that I might tie it round his head for him, and who expressed the greatest joy as he lifted his hand up to feel it again and again. We wore abundance of clothes, as I have already observed, on account of the coldness of the nights; and we bestowed the greater part on these islanders.

"The women were very desirous of coming nearer to us; and though the men made signs to them to keep at a distance, their curiosity was ready every moment to break through all other considerations. The gradual increase of confidence, however, that took place, obtained them permission to approach. It appeared to us very astonishing that in so high a latitude, where, at a period of the year so little advanced as the present, we experienced the cold at night to be pretty severe, these people did not feel the necessity of clothing themselves. Even the women were, for the most part, entirely naked, as well as the men. Some of them only had the shoulders or part of the back covered with a kangaroo's skin, worn with the hair next the body; and amongst these we saw two, each of whom had an infant at the breast. The sole garment of one was a strip of kangaroo skin, about two inches broad, which was wrapped six or seven times round the waist. Another had a collar of skin round the neck, and some had a slender cord bound several times round the head. I afterwards learned that most of these cords were fabricated from the bark of a shrub of the Spurge family, very common in this country.

"I had given them several things without requiring anything in return; but I wished to get a kangaroo's skin, when, among the savages about us, there happened to be only a young girl who had one. When I proposed to her to give it me in exchange for a pair of pantaloons, she ran away to hide herself in the woods. The other Natives appeared truly hurt at her refusal, and called to her several times. At length she yielded to their entreaties, and came to bring me the skin. Perhaps it was from timidity only she could not prevail on herself to part with this kind of garment; in return for which she received a pair of pantaloons, less useful to her, according to the customs of ladies in this country, than the skin, which served to cover the shoulders. We showed her the manner of wearing them; but, notwithstanding, it was necessary for us to put them on for her ourselves. To this she yielded with the best grace in the world, resting both her hands on our shoulders, to support herself while she lifted first one leg, then the other, to put them in this new garment. Desirous of avoiding every cause of offence, we behaved with all the gravity we could on the occasion.

"This party of savages consisted of two-and-twenty, seven of whom were men, eight women; the rest appeared to be their children. Amongst these we observed several marriageable girls still less clothed, most of them with nothing."

Other interviews at other localities are thus described:—

"Two boats were sent out to transport some of our men to both shores of the Straits. They discovered a number of savages landing from a raft on the east shore. As timid as those we had seen before, they had hastened with all possible speed to the land, where they made their escape into the woods. One of the officers of the Recherche following a beaten path made by the savages through the woods, met six of them walking slowly towards the south, who were all stark naked, and armed with javelins sixteen or eighteen feet in length. Their surprise at so unexpected a rencounter was visible in their countenances; but their number inspiring them with courage, they approached at the invitation of the European, and bound round their heads a handkerchief and neckcloth which he offered them. They, however, appeared terrified at the sight of his hanger, which he showed them how to use; nor were their fears quieted till he made them a present of it. He endeavoured in vain to persuade them to come to the place where our ships lay at anchor; the savages walked away, following the same path in a direction opposite to that which led to the shore.

"Some of our men having landed on the other side of the Strait came to a large fire, round which eight savages, each of whom had a kangaroo skin wrapped round his shoulders, sat warming themselves under the shelter of four fences against the wind. They immediately ran away as soon as they saw our people. An old woman who had the care of their provisions, which she did not choose to leave behind her, was soon overtaken by some of the sailors. She accepted, with an air of satisfaction, a handkerchief that was given her, but was so terrified at the sight of a hanger, which they presented to her, that she leaped down a precipice more than forty feet in height, and ran away among the rocks, where they soon lost sight of her. I do not know whether those who related this adventure in a different manner wished to make themselves merry at the expense of the rest, when they asserted that the age of this woman was no security for her against the attempts of some of the sailors; however, she was still young enough to make her escape."

It was upon other occasions that the intercourse became more intimate. M. Peron was daubed with charcoal by some of the sable fair, to add to his enchantment. Some of the young damsels, though unwilling to wear the garments of civilization, were induced by the gay Frenchmen to run races for them. A child, crying at the sight of a white ogre, was quieted by its smiling mother placing her hands over his eyes. The barbarous people exhibited great politeness, even carefully removing obstructive branches in the way of the foreign Bush explorers. Of course a French sailor tried to initiate a Native into the first principles of civilization by presenting some grog. The Tasmanian spat out the nauseous stuff with unmistakeable signs of disgust. Some of the stories told by M. Labillardière do credit to the kind nature of that man of science, especially in relation to his gallantry for the softer sex, whose cause he so nobly espouses:—

"At noon we saw them prepare their repast. Hitherto we had but a faint idea of the pains the women take to procure the food requisite for the subsistence of their families. They each took a basket, and were followed by their daughters, who did the same. Getting on the rocks that projected into the sea, they plunged from them to the bottom in search of shell-fish. When they had been down some time, we became very uneasy on their account; for where they had dived were sea-weeds of great length, among which we observed the Fucus pyriferus, and we feared they might have been entangled in these, so as to be unable to regain the surface. At length, however, they appeared, and convinced us that they were capable of remaining under water twice as long as our ablest divers. An instant was sufficient for them to take breath, and then they dived again. This they did repeatedly, till their baskets were nearly full. Most of them were provided with a little bit of wood, cut in the shape of a spatula, of which I spake before; and with these they separated from beneath the rocks, at great depths, very large sea-ears. Perhaps they chose the biggest, for all they brought were of great size. On seeing the large lobsters, we were afraid that they must have wounded these poor women terribly with their large claws; but we soon found that they had taken the precaution to kill them as soon as they caught them. They quitted the water only to bring their husbands the fruits of their labour, and frequently returned almost immediately to their diving, till they had procured a sufficient meal for their families. At other times they stayed a little time to warm themselves, with their faces towards the fire on which their fish were roasting, and other little fires burning behind them that they might be warmed on all sides at once(!) It seemed as if they were unwilling to lose a moment's time; for while they were warming themselves they were employed in roasting fish, some of which they laid on the coals with the utmost caution, though they took little care of the lobsters, which they threw anywhere into the fire, and when they were ready they divided the claws among the men and children, reserving the body for themselves, which they sometimes ate before they returned into the water."