This site may contain words, descriptions and images which may sadden and distress some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Hope
Another emerging triumph is the growing study and scholarship about Australia's frontier wars, where Aboriginal Australians fought valiantly for their homelands against the white invaders. In Tasmania, there has been a particular focus on the idea that genocide was carried out during the Black War.
As the internet expands and an increasing number of resources are available to the public in relation to Aboriginal history, we are able to make better-informed opinions about the past. While the idea that 'genocide' occurred during the Black War of the 1820s and early 1830s is contested, the fact that the event is being acknowledged and debated is a substantial triumph in many ways. It creates a greater public awareness of past atrocities and helps to build understanding and empathy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.
By learning about the wrongs and rights in our history, we can take this knowledge and use it to shape a better future.
Books Written About the Tasmanian Genocide - 21st Century
Hover over and Click Images for Next Book
Publication Date: 30 March 2005 Author: A. Dirk Moses (the chair of global and colonial history at the European University Institute, Florence / University of Sydney) Description: This volume reconstructs instances of Australian genocide and for the first time places them in a global context. The authors identify the moments of radicalization and the escalation of British violence and ethnic engineering aimed at aimed at the Indigenous populations.
Publication Date: May 2012 Author: Lyndall Ryan (Honorary Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Newcastle) Description: Lyndall Ryan tells the story of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, from before the arrival of the first whites to current political agendas. Tasmania has been the cradle of race relations in Australia, and Tasmanian Aborigines have struggled for a place in their own country.
Publication Date: 23 April 2014 Author: Nicholas Clements (Honorary research associate in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania) Description: The Black War takes a unique approach to this historic event, looking chiefly at the experiences and attitudes of those who took part in the conflict. It presents a compelling and challenging view of our early contact history, the legacy of which reverberates strongly to the present day.
Publication Date: 30 March 2005 Author: A. Dirk Moses (the chair of global and colonial history at the European University Institute, Florence / University of Sydney) Description: This volume reconstructs instances of Australian genocide and for the first time places them in a global context. The authors identify the moments of radicalization and the escalation of British violence and ethnic engineering aimed at aimed at the Indigenous populations.
Discussion of the Genocide by Nicholas Clements
(Honorary research associate in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania and historian, Dr. Nicholas Clements, 2014)
The Black War is ultimately a story about the human condition; about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances who came to experience, and to often perpetrate, the most ghastly acts. But it is also as story of courage and resistance, solidarity and survival. This history matters, not because it tells us who we were, but because it hints at who we are. We like to imagine we are somehow fundamentally different from the men who did the raping and killing on Tasmania’s frontier, but we are not. Combine ideology, desperation and fear, and our species’ capacity for cruelty is unbounded. A thin veneer of circumstantial luck is all that separates us from our forebears, and that luck will one day run out. Now more than ever we must learn from our forebears’ mistakes, just as we must learn from the Aborigines – peoples who have forged a rich and sustainable existence in Tasmania for some forty millennia.
There are an increasing number of websites and blogs that are dedicated to the discussion of the Tasmanian 'genocide'. These are important in educating the general public in the 'black' history of Australia. The website page displayed to the left is part of an article written by Nicholas Clements. It discusses the Tasmanian 'genocide' and why it was a tragedy. Although the information outlines a tragedy, the fact that people are learning about the event will hopefully cause them to make wiser decisions in the future and therefore, make our world a better place. It is also important that individuals read such articles because it creates better understanding and from this greater respect and acknowledgement for the indigenous peoples of Australia.
(Honorary research associate in the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania and historian, Dr. Nicholas Clements, 2014)
Closing the Gap
The 'Close the Gap Campaign' is an ongoing movement that aims to provide opportunities and aid to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The main goals of the campaign look to closing the health and life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation. Educating individuals about past events in Australian history in relation to Aborigines and the hardships they faced promotes greater understanding, empathy and may eventually lead to reconciliation. This will help shape a better future for all Australians.
 |  |  |  |
|---|