Mannalargenna was a leader of the Pairrebeenne/Trawlwoolway
clan of the Coastal Plains nation, revered for having powers over the wind. He was also a formidable warrior who reportedly danced to avoid spears thrown in clan attack and was a guerrilla fighter during the colonial wars. In 1829 he freed four Aboriginal women and a boy from John Batman's house where they had been held captive for a year.
In 1830 Mannalargenna met George Augustus Robinson, whom the colony’s governor (George Arthur) had commissioned to persuade the remaining first people to self-exile to the islands off Tasmania. Robinson told Mannalargenna that if he helped persuade the clans to move away from the homelands, it would be temporary. On 6 August 1831, Robinson promised they could one day return to their ancestral lands and live, hunt and practise their culture in safety. The same promise was repeated to three other clan leaders that year: Maulterheerlargenna of the Stoney Creek nation; Tongerlongter of the Oyster Bay nation; and Montpelliater of the Big River nation.
As a powerful leader and negotiator, Mannalargenna agreed to accompany Robinson on his mission. After four years assisting Robinson, in late 1835 Mannalargenna himself moved to the Wybalenna Aboriginal establishment on Flinders Island. Ultimately, Robinson broke his promise. As a symbol of the betrayal, Mannalargenna cut off his long-ochred hair and beard. On 4 December 1835 he died of pneumonia. (Information sourced from Breathing in Mannalargenna)
The National Museum Australia website provides an account by Emma Lee, a member of Melythina Tiakana Warrana, on the importance of ochre.
Mannalargenna Day is held each year on the first Saturday in December is to honour the memory of revered ancestor Mannalargenna and is well attended by both Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal People. The event includes a variety of cultural experiences, local Aboriginal artists/artwork, education forums, children’s activities, raffles, sampling of cultural foods and so much more.
Melythina Tiakana Warrana (Heart of Country) Aboriginal Corporation supports people to understand and reconnect with the culture and history of north-east Tasmania and welcomes people to Tebrakunna Country, to honour the memory of their revered ancestor Mannalargenna and their ancestral grandmothers who came from Tebrakunna Country: Woretmoeteyenner, Wyberlooberer, Teekoolterme (Nimerenna), Wapperty (Woonoteahcootameena), Tarenooterrer, Poolrerrener (Bullrub), Wottecowwidyer and Pleenperrenner (Mother Brown).
Image credit: Mannalargenna commemorative plaque. Photographer: Tanya Harper.
Tasmanian Aboriginal delegates brought back three ancestors from Canberra on
6 December 2016. They had been traditionally buried about 2,000 years ago, and their resting place was disrupted in the mid-20th Century and their remains taken to Canberra to be studied. They have been stored at an institution there ever since.
“The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre negotiated the repatriation of our people’s remains to Tasmania so we can return them to their tribal lands and their spirits can be put to rest”. - Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre Repatriation Notice (PDF, 525kb).
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has actively campaigned for the return of ancestral remains for over 40 years and has been successful in achieving many repatriations from Tasmanian, national and international museums, and other institutions.
The Examiner Newspaper covered the event and their account can be viewed online: Tasmanian Aboriginal ancestors repatriated to Launceston.
December 1995
The Aboriginal Lands Act 1995 (Tasmania) and the
establishment of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania
The significance of the return of land to Aboriginal People
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Tasmanian Aboriginal People continue to have a profound connection to the landscape. Connection to country, including land, sky, sea and water and having a responsibility to care for it, are central to Tasmanian Aboriginal Culture and Identity. For Aboriginal People, this relationship to Land and Country is much deeper than contemporary notions of land ownership and use.
The Aboriginal Lands Act 1995 (the Act), promotes reconciliation by granting Aboriginal People certain parcels of land of historic or cultural significance. The Act is the key Tasmanian legislation providing for the return of land and its management. The Act establishes the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania (ALCT), as a statutory authority with responsibility for the use and sustainable management of statutorily defined Aboriginal Land, which it holds in perpetuity for all Tasmanian Aboriginal People.
The return of land to Tasmania’s Aboriginal People has been an important way to progress reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmanians. To date, the Tasmanian Government has returned 55,617 hectares of culturally and historically significant Crown Land (or approximately 1% of all Tasmanian lands) to the Aboriginal Community. This includes significant sites at putalina (Oyster Cove), Risdon Cove, Wybalenna and Cape Barren Island (land vested, or acquired through the Act, or involving the Indigenous Land Corporation). A full list of land returned to date can be viewed by downloading a copy of the Aboriginal Land (lutruwita) map (PDF, 930kb), from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.
Since the initial return of Land in 1995, only a small number of additional land parcels
have been returned to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community under the Act. In 2012 and 2013 attempts to return Crown Land, including sites at larapuna (Eddystone Point) and Rebecca Creek, failed to pass the Legislative Council. The political and social landscape in which land return and management is progressed in Tasmania has changed significantly since the Act passed in 1995. It has become more common for some Aboriginal organisations to enter into their own property acquisition arrangements with partner organisations outside of the Act. For example, Kings Run, a 338-hectare site between the Arthur River and Marrawah, was purchased by the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania (ALCT) through a collaborative funding arrangement with other organisations. This approach has occurred with other ALCT property acquisitions.
For more information, access a copy of the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995, or visit the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania Facebook page,
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Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December - the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (PDF, 96kb).
The UDHR is a milestone document that proclaims the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being - regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.
More information on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Human Rights Day can be found on the United Nations website.
Seven Aboriginal organisations, covering a wide geographic area of Tasmania, including the Furneaux Islands, came together to form the Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance (TRACA). TRACA was developed to provide a mechanism to engage and advise Government at all levels in regard to affairs affecting Aboriginal Tasmanians. It is designed to be inclusive and to support and build the capacity of placed based Aboriginal Community decision-making. A Statement of Intent between the Tasmanian Government TRACA was signed on 13 December 2017.
TRACA welcome a broad range of Aboriginal Community-controlled organisations with different backgrounds and interests. Current TRACA membership consists of the following organisations: Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation in the northwest region, Flinders Island Aboriginal Association Inc on Flinders Island, Melythina tiakana warrana Aboriginal Corporation in the northeast, Parrdarrama Pungenna Aboriginal Corporation in the east coast and Tasman Peninsula, Six Rivers Aboriginal Corporation in the central and northern coast, South East Tasmania Aboriginal Corporation in the southeast and Weetapoona Aboriginal Corporation on Bruny Island.
For more information, visit the TRACA website.
The enactment of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tasmania) was seen as a significant achievement in the state of Tasmania with respect to anti-discrimination legislation, and came after years of lobbying.
Although the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission, headed by Dr Jocelynne Scutt, commenced office soon after on 10 December 1999, much of the groundwork was laid some twenty years ago from its inception in the Tasmanian Parliament back in 1978. During this period, Tasmania, unlike other Australian jurisdictions, was characterised by intense public debate and lobbying between political parties and community groups over the merits of anti-discrimination laws.
To learn about the evolution of Tasmania's anti-discrimination law, you can read From Conflict to Convergence: The Evolution of Tasmanian Anti-discrimination Law" [2001], by Gus Bernardi and published in the Australian Journal of Human Rights.
To find out more about your legal rights and/or responsibilities under the Anti-discrimination Act 1998, visit Equal Opportunity Tasmania.
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