TRUCANINI

For decades she was known as the 'last Tasmanian' and her striking photo and tragic story appeared in schoolbooks across the country. Like so much of what we were told about Aboriginal history, this wasn't true, and the real story is far more interesting.

Born in the early days of the convict settlement in Van Dieman's Land, Trucanini played a leading role in some of the dramatic events her people experienced in the 19th century. As a young woman, she was selected to be a guide and emissary to the man appointed to protect Aborigines from white settlers, George Augustus Robinson. She assisted him in persuading survivors of the Black Line to move to safety on Flinders Island, where many died from disease and despair. Trucanini then traveled to Portland Bay in Victoria with her band of men, to track down the sealers who captured her sister and kill them. She returned to the forlorn settlement on Flinders Island, and then later was transferred to Hobart Town, where white society treated her as a novelty, calling her 'Queen Trucanini'. Upon her death she begged that body not be exhibited or mutilated, but her wishes were not respected and her body was put on display in the Tasmanian Museum. A century passed before her ashes were scattered at her birthplace, Bruny Island. This is the true fascinating life story of Trucanini. ANNA LANYON is a historian and writer, and author of the prize-winning Malinche's Conquest. She lives with her family on the southern coast of Victoria.