Tasmania's forgotten war: The conflict between British settlers and First Nations peoples

The arrival of British settlers in Tasmania, a region which was known as Van Diemen's Land, in the early 1800s led to a conflict between two very different cultures.

The First Nations people of Tasmania had been living there for thousands of years before the arrival of the Europeans, and they did not take kindly to being displaced by newcomers.

This led to a long history of struggle between the British settlers and the Tasmanian original inhabitants.

As the colonisation of Van Diemen's Land began, a number of 'frontiers' developed and changed over time.

A 'frontier' is a line or border separating two regions. As the British settlers expanded further inland, the frontier line pushed further into lands occupied by the First Nations people, which created conflict.

The colonial frontiers were always changing and, as a result, were not policed well. As it was not always clear which areas were under British control, it created 'unofficial frontiers', that attracted people who enjoyed living without legal limitations, such as adventurers, entrepreneurs, and petty criminals.

On the other side of the frontier were the First Nations people who were not always aware of the rules of the European settlements.

Many local peoples were not able to distinguish between official and unofficial frontiers, nor who was following British laws or just simply acting illegally.

There were some neutral interactions between the two cultures, as many tried to understand how they could co-exist.

Between 1804 to 1824 there are records that colonists and traditional owners were trading goods, with the First Nations people seeking tobacco, tea, flour, and hunting dogs.

Due to the differences, however, conflict between British settlers and the First Nations people occurred frequently, often resulting in outright warfare.

However, First Nations groups lacked a unified defence, as they were divided by language and complex alliances between different people groups.

Also, they lacked the sheer manpower to form large enough fighting forces to oppose the settlers.

The earliest details of conflict occurred at the Furneaux Island, after British sealers arrived there in 1798.

The sealers were seeking to make a profit by capturing and killing seals for their fur.

However, this work was labour-intensive, and to increase their workforce, the sealers began kidnapping First Nations women from Tasmania and forced them to work for free.

Enraged by these crimes, First Nations warriors attempted to fight back whenever they could, finding ways of ambushing sealers whenever they landed on the coastline.

In 1805, eight sealers were killed and 2,000 of their seal furs were burnt at Great Oyster Bay, while four sealers were killed at Cape Portland in 1824, and two more at Eddystone Point in 1828.

The first recorded battle occurred on the 3rd of May in 1804 at Risdon Cove when a kangaroo hunting party stumbled upon a British commander, Moore, who thought it was an attack, and fired upon them.

An unknown number of First Nations people were killed and wounded.

The 'Black War' was a period of violent conflict between British settlers and Indigenous Tasmanians that lasted from 1824 to 1830.

It was caused by competition over land, with both sides wanting control over areas where local animals could be hunted, including seals and kangaroos.

An estimated 1000 First Nations, and 200 British settlers, died in the fighting.

In 1824, twelve European were killed in surprise attacks from First Nations forces. The use of guerilla tactics proved effective in spreading fear through the colony. 

First Nations leaders such as Mosquito and 'Black Tom' used their knowledge of European culture to increase the effectiveness of their attacks.

The conflict then began to escalate when British soldiers were sent into Tasmania in the mid-1820s to quell the violence.

This only led to more fighting, as now the First Nations people saw the soldiers as another enemy.

Many innocent civilians were caught in the crossfire and caught up in skirmishes, such as one woman who was killed while out gathering firewood.

Edward Curr, the manager of the Van Diemen's Land Company, seized control of large areas of land in 1826 from eight local people groups.

To help clear his newly acquired lands of its traditional owners, Curr encouraged the company employees to hunt down and kill them.

This led to the Cape Grim Massacre on the 10th of February 1828, during which four of Curr's employees killed around 30 First Nations peoples who were gathering food and threw their bodies off a cliff.

The violence escalated when Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law on the 1st of November 1828, which meant that colonists could kill First Nations people without being charged with murder.

He organised 'roving parties' of five convicts and a police constable, who were sent out to capture First Nations people.

In November 1830, he ordered a massive six-week military offensive known as the Black Line, in which 2,200 civilians and soldiers formed a series of moving cordons stretching hundreds of kilometres across the island in order to drive First Nations people from the colony's settled districts to the Tasman Peninsula in the southeast, where it was intended they would remain permanently confined.

The fighting reached a climax in 1830 when an Indigenous group, led by Mannalargenna, raided a settler farmstead and killed all the inhabitants.

In retaliation, British soldiers hunted down and killed as many First Nations people as they could find.

The last battle of the 'Black War' occurred in August 1830 at Big River where an estimated 30 Indigenous people were massacred.

In January 1830, a colonial official called George Augustus Robinson, sought to create a more positive solution to the ongoing conflict.

He was chosen to lead a 'Friendly Mission' in an attempt to bring about peace between the British settlers and First Nations Tasmanians.

He was seen as a good choice because he had experience working with local people groups in New South Wales and was sympathetic to their sufferings.

The most famous member and leader of the Friendly Mission was Trugannini, who became a symbol of First nations resistance and survival in the face of British colonisation.

She was one of the last surviving members of her people, and she died in 1876.

The mission began in March 1831 and Robinson managed to convince around 400 First Nations people to come with him to Flinders Island, where they would be safe from the violence of the British settlers.

This was not an easy task, as many of them did not trust Robinson or his motives. However, when they did not voluntarily choose to leave their traditional lands, Robinson had to use military force to achieve his aims. 

As a result, the mission was declared to be successful, as it managed to remove a large number of First Nations people from the mainland, and thus reduced the amount of fighting that was taking place.

By the 3rd of February 1835, Robinson declared that all First Nations people had been removed from Tasmania.

However, it also caused a great deal of damage to their original culture, as the people who were relocated to Flinders Island were not able to continue their traditional way of life.

The Black War had a profound impact on both the British settlers and the First Nations people of Tasmania.

It was a brutal and bloody conflict that left many dead on both sides, and it also resulted in the near destruction of First Nations culture in Tasmania.

The conflict also had an impact on Australia as a whole, as it showed that the British colonists were not able to peacefully coexist with the original land owners.

This led to changes in colonial policy, such as the introduction of Native Police forces, which were designed to help control First Nations people.

The Black War also helped to perpetuate the myth of the terra nullius – the idea that Australia was an empty land, which could be claimed by anyone who wanted it.

This myth has been used to justify colonial violence and oppression against First Nations people right up until the present day.