The last Tasmanians

Three prints mounted on thin card and captioned on the reverse. These much produced photographs show head and shoulders portraits of some of the last representatives of the Tasmanian aborigines.
The mystery of the origins of these unique people has never been fully expanded; they were certainly distinct from other Australian tribes, and would seem to have crossed to Tasmania when there was a land-bridge to the island. Once separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait, their profound fear of water effectively isolated them from any outside contact. Although anthropologists have discerned resemblances with many tribes - from New Caledonian natives to New Guinea highlanders - what finally separated the Tasmanians from other races was their seeming lack of any developed culture or mythology: all their implements and shelters were of the crudest kind, approximating in many instances to a Palaeolithic culture. Their disappearance has been rather less mysterious, and makes a sad tale of savagery and misunderstanding on both sides, from the 'Black war of Van Diemen's Land' and the attempted capture of all the natives in the Line operations of 1830, to G A Robinson's single-minded and successful mission to bring in all the aborigines and settle them on Flinders Island, and later at Oyster Cove, where they finally succumbed to the effects of homesickness, drunkenness and consumption.

Dr. Charles A. Woolley was a commercial photographer based in Australia. He had a studio at 42 Macquarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania, circa 1860-1870. He photographed the last surviving Tasmanian aborigines for the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866.

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Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

This collection is available on microfiche: Australasia, fiche number 75.

Generally good condition, apart from overall yellowing.

Numerous books have been written on the demise of the Tasmanian race; the best general study remains: Bonwick, James 'The Last Tasmanians', Sampson Low: London, 1870.

This collection level description was entered by WS using information from the original typescript catalogue.

Woolley, Charles A, 1834-1922, photographer