Towterer (c.1800 – 30 September 1837) was a leading Aboriginal Tasmanian man of the Ninine clan from south-western Tasmania. He was part of the last group of Ninine to continue living a traditional lifestyle on the Tasmanian mainland before their forced transportation to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island in 1833. One of his daughters was Mathinna who was sent to live with Sir John Franklin and Lady Jane Franklin.[1]
Early life
editTowterer was born around 1800 into the Ninine clan of Aboriginal Tasmanians of the southwestern region. His father was a prominent tribal leader named Loomerer and his mother was Lywelopeh. The country of his people extended from Port Davey in the south to Point Hibbs on the west coast of Tasmania.[2]
Towterer's people lived a mostly coastal existence, where the men would hunt local birds and mammals, while the women would dive for abalone and crayfish. They made catamarans to journey to offshore islands such as Hobbs Island to hunt seals and seabirds. They also made intricate bird traps and would supplement their diet with kelp, local herbs and kangaroo apple. Their huts were distinctively warm and neat semi-circular constructions called gardown made with a framework of bent branches covered in a thatch of grass and the internal walls insulated with paperbark and feathers. Their major settlements were at Port Davey, Lowgernown, Point Hibbs and Nomeme near the Giblin River. The Ninine cremated their dead.[2]
First contact with the British
edit
By 1830, the British had colonised much of eastern Tasmania but the rugged south-west was almost completely unknown to the Europeans. In that same year, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur permitted a British envoy named George Augustus Robinson to undertake an expedition to make contact with the resident people of this region and convince them to surrender to British control. Towterer by this time had become a leading identity of the Ninine clan and met with Robinson and his Aboriginal guides including Truganini in March 1830 near Gonovar (Giblin River).[2]
Robinson described Towterer as being an impressive man of around six feet in height, with a pointed beard and a kangaroo-skin shawl. They established a friendly interaction and Towterer guided Robinson north to the Lewis River where he left him to continue his journey.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Pybus, Cassandra (2020). Truganini. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760529222.
- ^ a b c d Robinson, George Augustus; Plomley, NJB (2008). Friendly Mission, the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson. Hobart: Quintus. ISBN 9780977557226.