Bass Strait people 1790-1850: Aborigines, sealers and others

Draft list of  Tasmanian Aboriginal women who were taken by sealers into Bass Strait waters – and original homelands if known [Aboriginal women in Bass Strait to 1850 from elsewhere yet to be added below this list]:

1. Deborahkanni  Far North West
   
2. Dromedeenner born c.1812 Swanport AKA Trometehennea/Trometehinnic/Mary
3. Drummernerlooner born c.1811 Cape Portland AKA Bullrer/Bullyer/Bullrub/Leemuekallerwanner/Leemuennerkaller
4. Ghoneyannenner Born c.1801 Ben Lomond Port Dalrymple?  AKA Peacock
5. Gudegui Born c.1810?  AKA Kude Karra
6.  Judy / Black Judy (sister of Emma who was at Oyster Cove  from 1847) married by Bishop Francis Russell Nixon to Edward Mansell in 7 Oct 1854. See: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24275853  and http://anglicanhistory.org/aus/nixon/beacon1854/  “I united an old sealer, Edward Mansell, to Judy Thomas, an aboriginal woman.”
7. Karnteeltenner Cape Portland AKA Little Buck
8. Larpeennopuric Far North West
9. Lateteyerwabbeltenner ?
10. Looerryminner Swanport AKA Leeermograngyer/Leenererkleener, Leenarerkleener/Boatswain
11. Lowhenunhe Bruny Island AKA Lorewenunne/Mary
12. Makekerlededee Bruny Island AKA Maggerleeded/Rommernagge
13. Maria
14. Mary
15. Maytepueminner St Patricks Head Drerneenener/Lurneener/Matapullerme/Muetemueminninnener
16. Meemelunneener Little Swanport AKA Myhermenanyehaner/Poll/Blind Poll/Agnes
17. Meeterlatteenner born c.1811 Piper River Waterhouse Point, Great Forester River ? AKA Meterletteyer/Meeterltteyay/Menerlettener/Sall/Sally/Thompson’s Sall/Rebecca
18. Meethecaratheeanna
19. Meetoneyernanner  born c.1811 Waterhouse Point Parnerpipeperworeerkanner/Dumpe
20. Mirnermannerme born c.1811 Swanport AKA Marmkoteherkiyer/Wurnermannerminer/Munermannerme/Maria
21. Mitteyer Ringarooma, Cape Portland AKA Myteoyer/Fan
22. Moondapder Cape Grim
23. Moretermorererluneher Forester River, Waterhouse Point AKA Poll
24. Murrerninghe Bruny Island AKA Kit
25. Nickerumpowwerrerter Born c.1811 Ben Lomond or Leven River? AKA Nickerumpowwerrerter/Little Mary
26. Niepeekar Cape Grim
27. Noendapper St Valentine’s Peak or Mersey River ?
28. Nollahallaker Born c.1801 Cape Grim, Mount Cameron, West Point AKA Nollerhollicker/Pillever/Trucklow/Kit
29. Pairrerteemme Swanport AKA Pairreminnenner/Parthemeena/Goose/Cuish
30. Pelloneneminner Born c.1809 Ben Lomond AKA Plinunimeener/Plorereemhe/Plownneeme/Paloriyeenna/Pangum/Pangern/Ponhum/Penguin/Flora
31. Pierrapplener Place? AKA Perruple/Warkerlarepaterner/Diana/Dinah/Ann
32. Pleenperrenner Big Musselroe, Ringarooma, Cape Portland AKA Mother Brown
33. Plorenernoopperner Born c.1805 Piper River AKA Woreterpyeerternanne/Moreterpyeerternanne/Watforwittehener/Planobeena[??]/Plonnoopinner/Warterpoowidyer [?]/Jock/Fanny
34. Pollerwotteltelterrunner
35. Poolrerrener  Cape Portland AKA  Bullrub/Bullroe/Boolroe/Bulra
36. Portripellaner Born c.1811 Piper River AKA Woretermurnerme/Maria
37. Pungerneetterlattenner St Patricks Head AKA Maria
38. Purnernattelattenner
39. Rarnapperlitterner Georges River AKA Pernappertittenner/Duncan
40. Reetarnithbar Cape Grim
41. Tanleboneyer Little Swanport [Loontiteermairreloinner] AKA Sall
42. Tarenootairrer born c.1806  Musselroe, Cape Portland AKA Tingernotareher/Tangernuterrer/Jackanoothara/Ploorernelle/Tibb/Sarah
43. Tarerernorerer Mersey River, St Valentine’s Peak, Round Hill AKA Walyer/Mary Ann
44. Teekoolterme George’s River
45. Tekartee Born c.1809 Little Swanport AKA Weybermueninner/Meybermuewinner/Kluenerme
46. Tencotemanener Born c.1801 Little Swanport, Oyster Bay [Laremairremener] AKA Smoker
47. Tinnermuck Port Dalrymple, west side AKA Towser
48. Toogernuppertootenner Born c.1798 Ben Lomond, East Coast AKA Toneuptotanener/Pueprittehe?/Maria
49. Trildoborrer Mersey River, St Valentine’s Peak, Round Hill
50. Troepowerhear Cape Grim
51. Wapperty Born c.1797 St Patrick’s Head
52. Warkernenner Tomahawk River AKA Worekenna/Meetoneneenner?/Wonginner/Kit/Old Kitty
53. Warrermarrerluner Tarkine, Sandy Cape
54. Werlangennertuerrarerer Cape Portland, Musselroe AKA Marmeis
55. Woorrartteyer Musselroe, Cape Portland
56. Woreterleeployenninner
57. Woreterleepoodyenniner Ringarooma, St Patrick’s Head AKA Long’un
58. Woreterlokekoteyer Born c.1806 Cape Portland, Little Musselroe AKA Issac
59. Woretermoeteyenner Born c.1791 Big Musselroe, Cape Portland AKA Wattermoteer/Woretermoteteyer/Waremodeenner/Pung/Bung
60. Woreterneemmerunnertatteyanne born c.1810 Big Musselroe AKA Emerrenna/Bet SMITH
61. Worethmaleyerpodeyer Born .c.1811 Piper River
62. Wottecowwidyer  Born c. 1808  Musselroe AKA Wot/Wat/Harriet

Draft list of  Tasmanian Aboriginal women who were taken by sealers into Bass Strait waters followed by the names of men they associated with, where known:

1. Deborahkanni [AKA Victoria, married by Fereday to James WILLIAMS, sealer, George Town 27/3/1842, died [catarrh] July 1847, p.112].
2. Dromedeenner [AKA Mary, b.c. 1811. Abducted by James MUNRO but escaped, p.112]
3. Drummernerlooner [AKA Bullrer/Rumernalu/Jumbo/Louisa, b.c.1812, Taken by James MUNRO when a child, spoke english well, p.112]
4. Ghoneyannenner [AKA Peacock, b.c.1801. Had Aboriginal husband, Abducted by BLACK JOHN BAKER, Escaped from Parish at Piper River, p.113]
5. Gudegui [AKA Kude Karra AKA the Ranger – lived on King Island from c.1830s to 1850s without men].
6. Judy / Black Judy – married by Bishop Francis Russell Nixon to Edward Mansell in 7 Oct 1854. See: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24275853  and http://anglicanhistory.org/aus/nixon/beacon1854/  “I united an old sealer, Edward Mansell, to Judy Thomas, an aboriginal woman.”(sister of Emma who was at Oyster Cove  from 1847.
7. Karnteeltenner [AKA Little Buck, “Abducted by sealers and taken to Kangaroo Island”, p.113]
8. Larpeennopuric [one of nine women, only 5 named, captured by sealers in north west Tasmania, see Friendly Mission 21/8/1830 – nothing more known…p.114]
9. Lateteyerwabbeltenner [Lived with Robert REW/DREW, p.114]
10. Looerryminner [AKA Boatswain/Leenarerkleener “Abducted by bosun John SMITH, who gave her to William PROCTOR, p.114]
11. Lowhenunhe [AKA Mary. One of three women abducted by  JOHN BAKER. Lived with HEPTHERNET on Kangaroo Island. Died 1829]
12. Makekerledede [AKA Sall. One of three women abducted by  JOHN BAKER. Lived with HEPTHERNET on Kangaroo Island; then with William COOPER]
13. Maria [AKA Drerneenennener/Lurneener/Matapullerme/New Maria, Abducted by John STOCKER, lived with Little CHARLEY]
14. Mary
15. Maytepueminner [AKA New Maria/Matilda/Drerneennerner, Abducted by John STARKER, after STARKER drowned lived with Little CHARLEY, had a husband ‘among the blacks’, p.115]
16. Meemelunneener [AKA Poll/Blind Poll/Agnes, visited Mauritius with sealers, p.115]
17. Meeterlatteenner [AKA Sall/Sally/Thompson’s Sall/Rebecca/Menerletterner, b.c. 1811, Abducted by Michael MCKENZIE when a girl, lent to James EVERITT [sp], seized by James THOMPSON after he drowned [1831] lived with William PROCTOR then Samuel BLYTHE who sent her to the Aboriginal Establishment 21 May 1837, p.115]
18. Meethecaratheeanna
19. Meetoneyernanner [AKA Dumpe/Parnerpipeperworeerkanner, b.c.1811, Abducted by George BRIGGS, but ‘escaped and lived on the main’, taken by Thomas TUCKER they lived on Gun Carriage where she died pre 19/12/1837, p.115-116]
20. Mirnermannerme [AKA Maria Monamie, b.c.1811, Abducted by James MUNROE, lived with David/James KELLY of Hunter Island to whom had several children, lived with John MYETIE [sp] at Hunter Island, went to Mauritius, p.116]
21. Mitteyer [AKA Fan, lived Kangaroo Island and Kent Group with Jack WILLIAMS AKA Norfolk Island Jack, p.116]
22. Moondapder [one of nine women, only 5 named, captured by sealers in north west Tasmania, see Friendly Mission 21/8/1830 – nothing more known…p.114]
23. Moretermorererluneher [AKA Poll, b.c. 1812, sisters Juliet and Thompson’s Sall, ‘Abducted by Charles PETERSON when 8 years old and cohabited with him since’, After death of PETERSON, William JOHNSON obtained Poll and they lived at Port Phillip (January 1837). After JOHNSON drowned Poll went to live with John BATMAN, p.116]
24. Murrerninghe [AKA Kit Abducted by John BAKER [with Lowhenunhe and Makekerledede] lived with John WILLIAMS AKA Norfolk Island JACK, lived with HEPTHERNET at Kangaroo Island, she was shot at Kent Group by Robert GAMBLE, FM 11/10/1830, p.116]
25. Nickerumpowwerrerter [AKA Little Mary, b.c.1811, Abducted by STARKER when he drowned, then lived with sealer Edward TOMLINS, p.117].
26. Niepeekar [one of nine women, only 5 named, captured by sealers in north west Tasmania, see Friendly Mission 21/8/1830 – nothing more known…p.114]
27. Noendapper [sisters Walyer and Trildoborrer, three sisters surrendered to the sealers, Noendapper was kept on the Bird Island by John DODSON [AKA William Dobson], she died at Gun Carriage island FM 23/5/1831, p.117]
28. Nollahallaker [AKA Pillever/Trucklow/Kit/Little Kit, b.c.1811, lived with Robert REW, taken from sealers by James PARISH, p.117]
29. Pairrerteemme [AKA Parthemeena/Goose/Cuish/Cush Lived with William SLACK on Gun Carriage Island, alive 1851 Oyster Cove, p.117]
30. Pelloneneminner [AKA Flora/Plownneme/Plonermener/Palorimeenner (emu)/Panghum/Penguin b.c.1809 Ben Lomond. Abducted from Ringarooma when a young girl by Thomas MASON who sold her to John BROWN, after Brown drowned…. p.117 – she was one of 11 women taken from the sealers by James Parish in December 1830. In 1831, Flora joined George Augustus Robinson to help him search for Aboriginal people in the north-east of Tasmania. Flora was taken to Wybalenna on Flinders Island and later transferred to Oyster Cove where she died, on 27 May 1860, aged 51 http://www.daao.org.au/main/read/7711]
31. Pierrapplener [AKA Perrruple/Warkerlarepeterner/Diana/Dinah/Ann, sister was Jock, lived with Robert REW [1832]. Previous, in 1824 was likely with James KIRBY, and travelling between islands between Bass Strait and Kangaroo Island when the Nereus encountered them, with James EVERETT and Henry WHALLEY. In 1827 Major Lockyer met Dinah with James KIRBY at King George’s Sound [Albany WA] Dinah and another VDL woman and a Kangaroo Island woman were then expatriated to Sydney? on the Ann arr. 11/6/1827 having called at Port Dalrymple, where Dinah and the other woman likely disembarked, ‘This woman, Dinah, was probably Pierrapplener who in 1832 was living with Robert REW. This woman was taken from Robert REW by WJ Darling in October 1832, and in a petition a few weeks later REW sought her return to him, stating he had obtained her on the death of John MYETYE about three years earlier, who had in turn obtained her from James THOMPSON.’ She had been seventeen or eighteen years with white men. p.85]
32. Pleenperrenner [AKA Mother Brown, b.c.1795, Abducted by John BROWN [1] who was later drowned, afterwards lived with James PARISH for a time who gave her to John SMITH, she had several children by BROWN, two drowned. ‘Delivered up to the Aboriginal settlement by John BROWN, with daughter by BROWN aged 13 years. “One of her daughters living in Launceston possessed considerable influence over the black women”: FM 31/3/1831, p.118]
33. Plorenernoopperner [AKA Fanny/Jock/Warterpoowidyer, b.c.1805 Abducted by Michael MCKENZIE, after MCKENZIE drowned lived with James THOM[P]SON, who ill treated her, on Guncarriage Island,  had a husband ‘among the blacks’, p.118]
34. Pollerwotteltelterrunner [AKA Wyyerlooberer/Margaret/Pecocally, bc.c1811, brother was Woretenattelargenne, Abducted when a children by Michael MCKENZIE who sold her to James THOMPSON [d.1835] who lent her to Richard MAYNARD on Gun Carriage Island, removed by James PARISH to the Aboriginal Settlement FM 11/12/1830, had an infant by Richard MAYNARD, p.119]
35. Poolrerrener [AKA Bullrub/Bullrow/Bullroe/Bulra “mother”, Cape Portland, sister or daughter was Jumbo. “This woman lived with Young SCOTT a sealer at Kangaroo Island she had been living there many years among the sealers. In Dec 1832 she was referred to as advanced in years, at least 40 [her daughter’s age was given as about 19 in June 1831; and she had a grown up “half caste” son Edward TOMLINS]. Bulra arrived at Launceston from Kangaroo Island on Griffith’s Schooner in February 1832 and was taken to the Hunters. Shortly after then her son Edward TOMLINS left on the whaling voyage to the western coast of New Holland. She remianed among the sealers in the western straits living first with John DODSON [AKA William Dobson] and then with Robert REW. On 17 Aug 1832 she was delivered up to George Augustus ROBINSON by REW and sent to the Aboriginal Establishment where she died probably before Sept 1835, p.111  “Sealers woman at Kangaroo Island with George Piebald AKA Fireball BATES, WIS p.822. ]
36. Portripellaner [AKA Maria, b.c.1811. Abducted by sealer James THOMPSON, lived with  John MYETYE/James KELLY. p.119]
37. Pungerneetterlattenner [AKA Maria/Sall, Abducted by John BROWN after BROWN‘S drowning  lived with John THOMAS, p.119, WIS p.863]
38. Purnernattelattenner [AKA Sall, Abducted by John BROWN, lived with James EVERITT [sp] for a time after BROWN was drowned, living with John THOMAS on Swan Island in 1837, p.19-120]
39. Rarnapperlitterner [AKA Duncan, lived with Duncan MCMILLAN, lived at Kangaroo Island, p.120]
40. Reetarnithbar [“a sealer’s woman abducted near Cape Grim”, WIS p.824]
41. Tanleboneyer [AKA Sall, b.c.1807, sisters Tekartee and Mirnemammerme, Abducted by John BROWN who was subsequently drowned at Clarke Island, BROWN had sent her to “sleep” with other sealers for one seal or kangaroo skin per night. Joined GAR in Launceston Oct 1830 brought from islands by James PARISH, her Aboriginal husband was thereafter Mannalargenna, she died 1/5/1835, p.120]
42. Tarenootairrer [AKA Sarah/Tibb/Tingernotareher/Jackanoothara, b.c.1806, “Abducted by James PARISH when a girl who sold her to John SMITH for four seal skins, bought from John SMITH by George ROBINSON, she had a child by John SMITH, and perhaps one by James PARISH (Mary Ann), ill treated by George ROBINSON, removed from sealers by James PARISH to the Aboriginal Settlement FM 11/12/1830″ later lived at Oyster Cove, mother of Fanny Cochrane Smith, p.120]
43. Tarerernorerer [AKA Walyer/Mary Ann, her brothers were Linenelikekayver and Linnetowwer joined the sealers at the time she did. Abducted by the sealers but later escaped, and led a party to attack in the ‘settled districts’, later abducted by John/William DODSON at Port Sorell, then given to Black Jack WILLIAMS, died 5/6/1831, p.121]
44. Teekoolterme [taken to Kangaroo Island by Black JACK WILLIAMS, after WILLIAMS drowned she was taken by John THOMAS, at Aboriginal Settlement 1831, p.121]
    
45. Tekartee [AKA Weybermueninner, sister Tanleboneyer, b.c.1809, ‘European features’, Abducted by John HERRIN when a little girl, sold to John MIRA/MIREY ‘Owyhee Black Man’ for some seal skins with whom she then lived. “Had a husband among the blacks”. She was “a fine, tall, straight woman”. Taken by James PARISH to Aboriginal settlement FM 11/12/1830, died at Maria Island 11/3/1831, p.121]
46. Tencotemanener [AKA Smoker, 5’9″, bc.1801, Port Dalrymple West Side, sister was Purnernattentettener/Sall. Abducted by Richard MAYNARD, who gave her to John RIDDLE/Long Jack with whom she lived on Gun Carriage Island, ‘had a husband among the blacks with whom she had children’, removed from sealers by GAR FM 12/11/1830, p.121]
47. Tinnermuck [AKA Towser, lived with LITTLE WEST at Kangaroo Island, p.122]
48. Toogernuppertootenner [AKA Maria, Ben Lomond, b.c.1798, brother Mannerlegargenner, ‘had a husband among the blacks with whom she had several children’. Abducted by John MIRA who sold her to George ROBINSON on Woody Island, taken from sealers by GAR FM 10/11/1830, p.122]
49. Trildoborrer [sister Walyer, Joined sealers with Walyer WIS p.830]
50. Troepowerhear [Abducted by sealers near Cape Grim WIS p.830]
51. Wapperty [AKA Wobbelty, 5’10”, stout made, b.c.1797, father Mannalargenna, Abducted by John THOMAS, lived with John STARKER/STOCKER who also lived with Nicerumpowwerrerter [Mary] and Maytepueminner [Maria], perhaps not at same time. John STARKER was drowned at the Leven River on his way back to Launceston from the westward islands c.Sept 1830 FM 14/9/1830, 1/10/1830, 2/10/1830. After John STARKER’S death John MYETYE seized Nicerumpowwerrerter [Mary] and Wobbelty, giving the former to Edward TOMLIN and keeping Wobbelty [p.100], After John MYETYE died [p.123] Wapperty lived with Robert REW, who brought her to the Aboriginal Settlement in 844. Bessy MITI/RUE her daughter to John MYETYE married John MIRA on 27/3/1847, Wapperty died Oyster Cove 12/8/1867. p.123]
52. Warkernenner [AKA Kit/Old Kitty, Tomahwk River, Abducted by James THOMPSON when a girl, later living with John DODSON [AKA William Dobson] on Hunter Island, taken by Alexander MCKAY, then GAR [George Augustus ROBINSON], who John DODSON asked to return Warkernenner to him, p.122]
53. Warrermarrerluner
    
54. Werlangennertuerrarerer [AKA Marmeis? Mussel Roe, sealer’s woman at Kangaroo Island, SA, FM 4/4/1831, p.122]
55. Woorrartteyer [name means ‘walk’, from Musselroe, sealer’s woman at Kangaroo Island, living with ‘Piebald’ Fireball George BATES on Kangaroo Island, SA, FM 4/4/1831, p.123]
56. Woreterleeployenninner
57. Woreterleepoodyenniner [AKA Long’un/Langern/Dranetunneminnener?, Ringarooma, sealer’s woman living on Kangaroo Island with James ALLEN, WIS p.834]
58. Woreterlokekoteyer [AKA Isaac, Musselroe, b.c.1806, Abducted by Little CHARLEY who sold her to William PROCTOR for some seal skins, lived with William PROCTOR and Edward MANSELL. Had a ‘husband among the blacks with whom she had three children’, p.123]
59. Woretermoeteyenner [AKA Wattermoteer/Woretermoteteyer/Waremodeenner/Pung/Bung, Big Musselroe, b.c.1790, sister Wottecowidyer, Abducted by George Briggs by whom three children [JG:  at least 5 children: Dalrymple Briggs, x unnamed died from burns, Mary Briggs, Eliza Briggs, John Briggs]. Sold to John THOMAS for a guinea. Lived for a time with John BROWN. Taken by James PARISH to the Aboriginal settlement FM 19/12/1830. “Had a husband among the blacks”: Phillip. Had boy by James MUNRO when she lived with him FM 19/12/1830 [JG: no, Munro looked after young John BRIGGS aged c.5+, until? Munro took John to Hobart when he went to petition the Governor for the return of women], p.123]
60. Woreterneemmerunnertatteyanne [AKA Emerrenna/Bet SMITH, Big Musselroe, born c.1810, Abducted when a child by John HARRINGTON, after HARRINGTON drowned she was seized by Thomas TUCKER, from whom Thomas BEEDON obtained her. FM 31/3/1831. “Bet SMITH lived with Thomas BEEDON on Gun Carriage approx. 5 years, having two children by him, one living, one dead, now with child” FM 31/3/1831, “Said to have killed two half-caste boys on Preservation Island, Thomas TUCKER the father”. Mother of Lucy BEEDON, p.124]
61. Worethmaleyerpodeyer [Piper River, b.c.1811, Abducted by James EVERITT by whom she was later murdered on Woody Island because she did not clean mutton birds to his satisfaction. FM 10/11/1830, p.124]
62. Wottecowwidyer [AKA Wot/Wat/Harriet, b.c. 1808, Musselroe, sister Woretemoteteyer, Abducted by James THOMPSON with whom she lived. Several half-caste children by various fathers. After James EVERITT murdered Worethmaleyerpodeyer  James THOMPSON sent Wottecowwidyer to James EVERITT. Taken by James PARISH to the Aboriginal Settlement 11/12/1830. Said by x?x TURNBULL [p.104] to have killed a child about 6 weeks old about same time as DUMPE. John SMITH with whom she was then living, buried it in his garden. FM 30/12/1830. Lost two children [boy and girl] when boat with Michael MCKENZIE and Little BOB capsized in the Straits FM 25/12/1830. Sarah SMITH (Nancy SMITH?] [error Pleennperrenner FM 19/3/1831] probably her daughter by John SMITH. Mother of Mary Ann THOMPSON. p.124]

Information from:
Title: ‘The sealers of Bass Strait and the Cape Barren Island community’
Year: 1990
Author: Plomley, B. & Henley, K.A.
Published: Proceedings of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Volume 27, Number 23 (June-September)

Women not from Van Diemen’s Land living with sealers in Bass Strait to 1850 – very draft list:

EMUE [AKA EMMA]   and  KALLOONGOO [AKA  SARAH, CHARLOTTE]
John ANDERSON and EMUE/EMMA –  ANDERSON, John AKA: Abyssinia, Abyssinia Jack. Description: 5′ 7″ – 5′ 9″, grey hair, age 40-50 (1831); Englishman; sealer 16 years. Origin: Seaman; arrived in Sydney a free man on the Archduke Charles, convict transport ex Cork, on 16 February, 1813. Said to have been in the navy as a boy and to have served at Trafalgar (Pasco, 1897). Shipping: Important to note that the name John Anderson is found for a number of vessels visiting Bass Strait and that it is doubtful whether any of them refer to Abyssinia. Thus: John Anderson arrived in Sydney on the John Barry from London on 26 September, 1819; John Anderson arrived in Sydney on the Northhampton from London on 17 June, 1815, and ran from her; John Anderson one of crew of Endeavour for Bass Strait and King Island on 9 June, l8l8; John Anderson , ex Lady Nelson, one of crew of Alligator which sailed for the seal fishery on l0 June, 1823; James Anderson on Nereus ex Sydney for Bass Strait on 9 November, 1824, and on Alligator for Kangaroo Island on 9 April, 1825; James Anderson, a convict, arrived from Cork on the Mary, convict transport, on 25 August, 1819. Resorts:Kangaroo Island; Kent Group; Woody Island. Women: l. Emma, native of Port Lincoln; her fullblood New Holland son PRARE.RE came to live in Anderson’s household about 1827; Anderson told GAR that he had had ten children by Emma, of whom five were living (SLR; FM, 19/3/1831) by January 1836 he had sold her to James Munro (WIS, 12/1/1836). 2. Poll (also known as Sall and perhaps Anne/Anny), a New Holland Anderson lived with her after the death of Emma late in 1837 (WIS 19/12/1837) [p.70, Plomley and Henley]
Notes: 1 The Sydney Gazette of I July 1826, reported that Abyssinia was then living on Kangaroo Island. 2. John Anderson not the black man of that name who lived on one of the Western Australian islands and visited King Island (Cumpston, 1970). 3 When Anderson was interviewed on 3l May 1837, he said he was the only man living on Woody Island and that there were two women and three children there.One of these women and one child had belonged to a sealer who had ‘gone to port’, abandoning them (perhaps William Dutton). The woman with Anderson was Emma (WIS, 1/6/1837). 4. By 1845 Anderson was living with his family in the Western Straits.5. On 16 November 1845, John Anderson baptised two of his children: Frances, 24, wife of ‘Reewe’ (not identified); and John, 12 years. Jane Elizabeth And John aged 12, was another of John Anderson’s children baptised at Stanley, on 27 September 1846. All these were probably Emma’s children. 6. Catherine Anderson, aged 7, living with Jonathon Griffiths in Launceston in 1831,was probably a daughter by Emma. 7. Ana Anderson, ‘daughter of a sealer’, aged 16, married Benjamin Risby at George Town in December 1842; she is likely to have been another of Emma’s children. Pasco (1897) calls her Mary. [p.71, Plomley and Henley]

Kalloongoo (and Emue?) were from Rapid Bay and Yankalilla, south of Adelaide, north of Cape Jervis.

Excerpts from: Amery, Rob, 1996, ‘Kaurna in Tasmania; A case of mistaken identity’, Aboriginal History, vol 20, pp24-50. [below p.37-42 ]

[p 37]…. Some of the Kauma women kidnapped from the southern Kauma region ended up living with sealers in Bass Strait. In 1831, Robinson noted that there were Aboriginal

[p 38] women from Kangaroo Island present on islands in the Kent Group in the Eastern Bass Straits north of Flinders Island. Fn 23 One of these women Emue or Emma, was a Kaurna woman who was living with a woman named John Anderson, alias Abyssinia Jack Anderson, told Robinson that  “… [he] has a black women living with him, which he got from off the main of the coast of New Holland opposite Kangaroo Island and has lived with her ever since. Says he has ten children by her, five of whom are alive. Got  a black boy from the main, son to this woman, four years since.” Fn 24

On 23rd July 1836, Robinson reports that: Corporal Ramsay returned to the settlement from the Sisters Islands [immediately to the north of Flinders Island] having removed the sealers, who offered no resistance. They had been on the islands about a fortnight …They had two boats. Abyssinia Jack had charge of one with some New Holland women and also VDL [Tasmanian] women named [ ]. The New Holland women were the same that had been stolen from their country adjacent to Kangaroo Island by George Meredith jnr of Oyster Bay…The sealers had several halfcaste children on board of their boats. There were three men in the boat, Abyssinia Jack, Everett and another…Abyssinia Jack and another sealer stop on Woody Island. They reported that there was three men on Gun Carriage [island adjacent to Woody Island in between Hinders and Cape Barren Islands]. They had with them several New Holland women. Fn25

In 1837 Emue was still living with Anderson, then on Woody Island, in between Flinders and Cape Barren Island. Robinson’s journal entry of 10 January 1837 contains the following: Woody Isle: Abyssinia Jack and three women native of New Holland; one with Everett one infant; with Abyssinia a woman Emue and three children; a woman native of Spencers Gulf has been left by Dutton, this woman has a boy by a black man, she wishes to leave the sealers. fn 26

This latter woman, Kalloongoo, also named Sarah by the sealers and renamed Charlotte by Robinson, is crucial to the story of Robinson’s Kaurna wordlist. Plomley’s annotations to Robinson’s journal for 1 June 1837 note that: Corporal Miller left the settlement on the morning of 31 May for Woody Island and reached there that evening. He was accompanied by two aboriginal women, Rebecca and Matilda. On arrival at Woody Island, Miller interviewed the one sealer there, John Anderson, who told him that sometimes another sealer lived there too, but that he had ‘gone to port’. There were two native women and three children on the island, of whom one woman and two children belonged to Anderson. The other woman, after talking to the women from the settlement, was willing to quit the island on the understanding that she would be conveyed to her own country, i.e. New Holland She was known as Sarah or Charlotte, and was about twenty years old. Fn 27

[p 40] On June 1st 1837, Kalloongoo was brought to Robinson’s settlement at Flinder’s Island and remained there until the 25 February 1839 when she was taken by Robinson to Port Phillip (Melbourne). Whilst at Flinders Island, Kalloongoo lived in Robinson’s house and worked for him as a domestic servant, and thus is the most likely source of the Kaurna wordlist. It is most likely that Charles Robinson recorded the wordlist somewhere between June 1837 and February 1839, as he was in constant contact with her during this period.

On arrival at Flinders lsland, Kalloongoo gave a lengthy account to Robinson of how she was kidnapped and her subsequent life with sealers on Kangaroo Island and in Bass Strait. In addition she provided specific details of her origins. Her interview with Robinson, as recorded in Robinson’s journal for June 2nd 1837, is provided here in full: Interrogated the woman who arrived last night from Woody Island; result as follows-(I) KAL.LOON.GOO, (2) COWWER.PITE.YER, (3) WIN.DEER.RER alias Sarah an aboriginal female of New Holland, the point opposite to Kangaroo Island, the west point of Port Lincoln. Was forcibly taken from her country by a sealer named James Allan who in company with another sealer Bill Johnson (this man was drowned subsequent to my visit to Port Philip) conveyed her across to Kangaroo Island where she remained for a considerable time until she was seized upon by Johnson and forced on board the schooner Henry J Griffith owner and master and brought to the straits, when Johnson sold her to Bill Dutton, who had subsequently abandoned her. She had a child by Dutton a girl which he took away with him. The woman states that at the time she was seized and torn from her country, Allan the sealer was led or guided to her encampment and where her mother and sister then was by two blackfellows her countrymen but not her tribe and who had been living with the sealers on the island [Kangaroo Island]. Said the blackfellows came sneaking and laid hold of my hand; the other girl ran away. The white man put a rope around my neck like a dog, tie up my hands. We slept in the bush one night and they then tied my legs. In the morning we went to the boat. They took me then to Kangaroo Island. She remained there a long time until she was brought away in the schooner [Henry owned by J. Griffith] to the straits. She said there were several New Holland [mainlander] black men on Kangaroo Island. Said two of them died from eating seal; her brother died also from eating seal. Said the sealers beat the black women plenty; they cut a piece of flesh off a woman’s buttock; cut off a boy’s ear, Emue’s boy. This woman [Emue] is now on Woody Island with Abyssinia Jack. The boy died in consequence of his wounds. They cut them with broad sealer’s knives. Said they tied them up and beat them and beat them with ropes. Fn 28 Bill Dutton beat her plenty. Said the sealers got drunk plenty and women get drunk too. Said the country where she came from was called BAT.BUN.GER [Patpangga = Rapid Bay] YANG.GAL.LALE.LAR [Yankalilla]. It is situate at the west point of St. Vincents Gulf. Said that Emue’s brother was her husband. It is on the sea coast; there is a long sandy beach with three rivers. MAN.NUNE.GAR is the name of the country where she was born. Kangaroo island is called DIRKI.YER.TUN.GER.YER.TER; WAT.ER.KER.TER, an island. (YAR.PER, a hole; called the hole in the cartilage of her nose YAR.PER.) (1) WHIRLE (2) WHIR.LE, house. Fire, KIR.LER. Wood, (1) NAR.RER (2) NAR.RAR.

[p 41] This aboriginal female of NH  KAL.LOON.GOO has a hole through the cartilage of her nose. She relates the following circumstances in reference to her removal from Kangaroo Island. She said one day the schooner Henry John Griffith master and owner came to Kangaroo Island. Allan was away at this time at another part of the island. Said that Johnson tied her hands and feet and put her on board of the schooner, when he and Harry Wally came away in the schooner to the islands in the straits. A sealer Harry Wally assisted in tying her. Subsequently Johnson sold her to Bill Dutton by whom she had a female child a girl. She had had a male child by a Sydney black a sealer. This child is the one now with her and is about five years of age. Bill Dutton stopped on Woody Island with Abyssinia Jack. He has left about ten moons, has gone away and married a white woman. He took his child the girl with him. She had heard this. He has gone whaling. The boy was born at a rock near to the Julians. She had the girl first by Bill Dutton. Said she was a big girl when Allan took her away from her own country. In answer to a question, ‘do you like this place’, she said ‘yes!’ ‘Do you want to go to Woody Island?’, ‘no, it is no good place, there is nothing there at all’. She got little to eat. Bill Dutton beat her with a rope. She was glad she had got away. In answer to several questions about God she answered she never learnt him, she did not know. The woman’s boy is about five years of age and is very interesting child. The features are European cast, thin lips and small features, and appears intelligent. So also does the mother. The woman’s features are similar to the boy’s. So soon as it was known at the native settlement that a New Holland woman had arrived all the native inhabitants were in motion and an evident excitement was created. Several of the native men came to my quarters but the greater part kept away from bashfulness. Before breakfast I walked with her to the native cottages and introduced her to the aborigines, and she met with a hearty welcome from those generous and simple hearted people. She appeared much delighted with her reception and there appeared a reciprocal feeling between this stranger and the resident aborigines. She brought a bitch and two pups with her. This morning she drew here rations from the store and was put on the strength of the establishment from yesterday the first of June ins!. Much curiosity prevailed on the part of the aborigines, and constant visits was made throughout the day at my house to see the stranger. About noon her son arrived in the boat. I shewed the various kinds of work performed by the male aborigines, the cultivated .land, the fencing, the road making, and the large heap of grass collected by the females, their knitting and domestic work, with the whole of which she appeared highly delighted and said she should like to learn to work like them. At 6 pm she accompanied me to the evening school and here she appeared to be quite overcome with astonishment at what she witnessed. This was a new scene, an epocha she had not possible conceived. Here she beheld people of her own colour engaged at learning what she could not comprehend native children teaching native men and women. Heard the whole in one united chorus singing the praises of God, of that being of whom she had not heard and of whom she acknowledged she had not the slightest conception. All was wonder to her poor untutored mind. I shall not easily forget with what astonishment she looked when the congregation began to sing, and it appeared equally a matter of surprise to her when the native men stood up to pray. She said she wished to learn and I instructed her in the alphabet, I suppose the first time in her life.

[p42] 3 June Sat This morning the aboriginal female of New Holland was brought to the office and interrogated by the Commandant in the presence of the storekeeper Mr L Dickenson and Mr Clark the catechist and which was signed by those gentlemen and is herewith annexed by which it will be seen that this poor creature has been cruelly treated and left in total ignorance of the Being of a God. She made the statement and answered the questions without the least embarrassment….This evening Charlotte was again surprised at what she witnessed at our family worship. On the arrival of this woman a new name was given her Le. Charlotte in lieu of Sarah by which latter she was called by the sealers, and it has been my practice to give new names to all who join the settlement from this class of individuals. She is very docile and quiet and appears industrious. She this day cleaned out my office. Fn 29

Kalloongoo, a Kaurna woman from the region south of Adelaide, and not from Port Lincoln Before proceeding further, it is necessary to clear up a point of confusion inherent in Robinson’s journal entry, and perpetuated in a number of secondary sources published since. Robinson’s interview with Kalloongoo quoted above begins with the statement that ‘KAL.LOON.GOO, (2) COWWER.PITE.YER, (3) WlN.DEER.RERalias Sarah [is] an aboriginal female of New Holland, the point opposite to Kangaroo Island, the west point of Port Lincoln’, Cumpston referring to this journal entry of Robinson’s reiterates that ‘Dutton had obtained a New Holland woman (from Port Lincoln) named Kal.loon.goo (Sarah/Charlotte)’. Fn 30

Barwick also referring to Robinson’s journal, this time for 9th January 1837, makes the statement that two of the women on Gun Carriage Island in the Furneaux Group between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands ‘were certainly from Port Lincoln. Fn 31 and cites personal communication with Plomley that ‘Kalloongoo or Sarah (then renamed Charlotte) was originally kidnapped from Port Lincoln (where she had been married to a brother of the woman Emue or Emme who became the wife of the Abyssinia Jack’ alias John Anderson)’. Fn 32 Mollison, also drawing on Robinson’s journals, refers to Kalloongoo as coming from Port Lincoln. Fn 33

However, later in the interview with Robinson, Kalloongoo ‘said the country where she came from was called BAT.BUN.GER [Patpangga = Rapid Bay] YANG.GAL. LALE.LAR [Yankalilla]. It is situate at the west point of St. Vincents Gulf’. Rapid Bay and Yankalilla are located to the south of Adelaide, north of Cape Jervis. The reference to Kalloongoo coming from Port Lincoln then is probably due to Robinson’s lack of knowledge of the geography of the South Australian coast. Robinson recorded this interview in 1837, one year after the establishment of the South Australian colony, when Port Lincoln was nothing more than a name and a dot on a map. The town of Port Lincoln was not surveyed until 1840.

Footnotes
20  Moore cited in Clarke, 1994: 7.
21 In 1822 a sealer was encountered on the South Island of New Zealand. ‘The man Stuart had come from Kangaroo Island with a wife of the country and two children to settle in New Zealand; but having with his family been taken prisoner by the natives IMaoris], he had adopted their customs [and] was employed by the chiefs… as a pilot…for finding all the different hiding places of the Americans’ (Cumpston, 1970, p. 63). It is unclear exactly when this woman, likely to have been a Kaurna woman, went to New Zealand. It is also known that in 1823 another woman from Kangaroo Island (possibly a Kaurna woman) was stranded on the South Island of New Zealand for a period of eight months with her small child. The other members of her sealing party belonging to an American ship, the General Gates, had been killed by Maoris. This South Australian woman returned to Sydney in April 1824. (Cumpston, 1970, p. 66). It is possible that these two accounts refer to the same woman, though the dates suggest otherwise.
22  Clarke 1994: 3.
23 Robinson in Plomley, 1966: 327, 335.
24 Plomley, 1966: 327.25 in Plomley, 1987: 366-67.
26 in Plomley, 1987: 416.
27 in Plomley, 1987: 695.
28 This account of cruelty given by Kalloongoo is closely corroborated by Anderson’s and Constable Munro’s versions of the same events documented by Robinson some years earlier in 1831 (Plomley ed. 1966, p. 357, 360, 462, 1010).
29  in Plomley, 1987, pp. 445-447.
30 Cumpston 1970, p. 170.
31  Barwick 1985, p. 212.
32  Barwick 1985, p. 231.
33  Mollison 1976.

Bibliography

Barwick, Diane E. 1985, ‘This Most Resolute Lady: A Biographical Puzzle.’ pp.185-239 in Barwick, D.E., Beckett, J. & Reay, M. (eds) Metaphors of Interpretation: Essays in Honour of W.E.H. Stanner. ANU Press, Canberra.

Clark, Philip forthcoming, ‘Early European Interaction with Aboriginal Hunters and Gatherers on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.’ Aboriginal History, 20, 1996.

Cumpston, J.S. 1970, Kangaroo Island 1800-1836. Roebuck Society, Canberra.

Plomley, N.J.B. (ed.) 1966, Friendly Mission: The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of George Augustus Robinson 1829-1834. Tasmanian Historical Research Association.

Plomley, N.J.B. 1976, A Word-list of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Languages. Govt printers/author, Hobart.

Plomley, N.J.B. Ed, 1987, Weep in Silence: A History of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Settlement. Blubber Head Press, Hobart.

Plomley, N.J,B. & K.A. Henley 1990, ‘The Sealers of Bass Strait and the Cape Barren Island Community’. PP THRA, Blubber Head Press, Hobart.

Children [unnamed]: John Boultbee: (P/H:59, en: 20) ”I have seen several of the offspring of these parties, they are a clever active sort of people and have a handsome countenance, notwithstanding the ugly physiognomies of their mothers. Their colour is copper, with a sort of rosy healthy hue, long but not lank hair, and their dispositions are very prepossessing. Some of them have been sent to Sydney for the purpose of being educated at the Government school”. Begg, A. Charles & Begg, Neil C.  1979  The world of John Boultbee : including an account of sealing in Australia and New Zealand / A. Charles Begg and Neil C. Begg Whitcoulls, Christchurch, p.62

Draft list –  named sealers In Tasmanian Waters

1. William Aldridge
2. James Allen
3. John Anderson – AKA Abyssinia Jack
4. Thomas Baily Thomas Bailey/
5. John Baker
6. George Bates Aka Fireball Bates
7. Thomas Beedon/Beeton
8. Bellarday
9. George Belsey
10. Billhook
11. Thomas Bleak – 1829 – c16 –  Kents Group
12. Samuel Bligh/Bly/Blithe
13. George Briggs
14. John Brown 1 Drowned 1818 ?
15. John Brown 2 Drowned 1830 ?
16. John Brown 3 ? on King Island in 1852
17. Archibald Campbell
18. Charley
19. Samuel Rodman Chase
20. William Cooper
21. Daniel Cowper
22. James Curley
23. Cottrel Cochrane
24. Davis
25. John Day  – Aka William Day  – 1829 – c40 – Hogan Group
26. John Dobson (Aka William Dobson) – Hunter Islands
27. Robert Rew/Drew
28. James Duncan
29. William Pelham Dutton
30. James Everett/Everitt
31. Thomas Fisher
32. Thomas Foster
33. Fox
34. Robert Gamble/Gemble
35. John Griffiths [Son]
36. Jonathan Griffiths [Father]
37. Thomas Hamilton
38. Edward Hanson    – Aka – Edward Tomlin/S [Son]
39. John Harrington
40. John Herrin Aka Harvey
41. Hepthernet
42. Antoine Hervel – Drowned
43. David Howie
44. Isaac
45. William Johnson
46. David Kelly Aka Kohn Kelly – 35
47. James Kirby
48. Robert Knight
49. George? Knowles
50. Little
51. Dennis McCarthy [see K.R. Von Stieglitz, History of New Norfolk, p.24: “Another venture of McCarthy [ex Norfolk Island] was to Kangaroo Island to get seal skins in the Henrietta Packet and then in April 1817 he advertised for men to go whaling in the brig SPRING, but no report has come down to us of what happened”.
52. Michael Mckenzie/Mackenzie
53. Duncan Mcmillan
54. Edward Mansell Aka Sydney
55. Edward Mansfield
56. Thomas Mason
57. Richard Maynard Aka John Todd
58. George Meredith
59. John Mira/Miree/Myrie/Mirey
60. John Mytie – c35 – Maori – Hercules Is  [is he the Jacky Mytie below ?… : 
    MYTIE  Jacky. Sailor
    1822 Apr 12
    Thomas Street, master of the “Sinbad”, permitted to employ for the procurement of cedar at Port Stephens (Reel 6009; 4/3505 p.148)
    http://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/m/F40c_mu-my-12.htm#TopOfPage 
61. John Morgan/Hughes – convict – on king island in May 1831
62. Patrick Morrison Aka John Morrison?
63. Moss
64. James Munro Or Munroe
65. James Parish Or Parrish
66. Charles Peterson
67. William Proctor
68. Robert Rew Or Rue – Hunter Is
69. Michael Richards
70. John Richardson
71. John Riddle
72. Robert Robertson
73. George W Robinson
74. Rogers
75. John Scot Aka Old Scott
76. John Scott Aka Young Scott Aka George Scott
77. John Simmonds Kable NSW
78. William Slack Aka Richard Slack
79. John Smith – took Aboriginal women from the main. c45 in 1829
80. John Smidmore
81. Samuel Snailhouse
82. John Starker Aka John Stocker
83. Robert Stonehouse
84. John Strugnell
85. “Sydney Black”
86. John Taylor – ‘mulatto’ USA – c38 – Kents Group – NZ woman
87. John Thomas/James Thomas – Long Tom – ex Ltn pilot – Briggs afterwards sold her to John Thomas alias Long Tom for a Guinea “…this man is still living in Launceston and is employed as Seaman on Board of Griffiths” c1829-31
88. Nathaniel Thomas
89. James Thompson
90. Tiger
91. Samuel Tomlins [Father] Of Edward Tomlins
92. Thomas Tucker
93. Turnbull
94. John Tyack
95. Welsh Jack
96. James West
97. Henry Whalley
98. John Williams 1
99. John Williams 2 – Norfolk Island Jack, James Williams – Kent Group
100. Yankee Bob

More info about the sealers from the above list:

Firstly – download this 14 page document – an exact transcript of George Augustus Robinson’s notes on the sealers of Bass Strait – an invaluable resource provided by the State Library of NSW:

acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2007/D00007/mss7059_robinson.pdf

Draft list –  named sealers In Tasmanian Waters

1. William Aldridge
2. James Allen
3. John Anderson – AKA Abyssinia Jack
4. Thomas Baily Thomas Bailey/
5. John Baker
6. George Bates Aka Fireball Bates
7. Thomas Beedon/Beeton
8. Bellarday
9. George Belsey
10. Billhook
11. Thomas Bleak – 1829 – c16 –  Kents Group
12. Samuel Bligh/Bly/Blithe
13. George Briggs
14. John Brown 1 Drowned 1818 ?
15. John Brown 2 Drowned 1830 ?
16. John Brown 3 ? on King Island in 1852
17. Archibald Campbell
18. Charley
19. Samuel Rodman Chase / Chace : Death notice: Source: Sydney Gazette. July 26 1826. (originally from the COLONIAL TIMES. VDL. June 23)By the loss of the little Government vessel which lately sailed for Maria Island, we regret tos tate, that a widow and a large family are deprived of a father and husband. Mr.S.Chaise was the master of that vessel. He was an experienced navigator, and had been many years in the maritime service in these Colonies. We therefore trust that the Government may afford some relief to his disconsolate wife and orphan children, as they are left wholly unprovided for.' From Jenny Fawcett to Aus-Tas.+“ There was a Government schooner of 20 tons by the name "Despatch" that was built in Macquarie Harbour in 1825/26. Captain Samuel Rodman Chase. This little boat arrived Hobart on 17th February 1826, it then sailed from Hobart to Maria Island with provisions in March 1826 and was never to be seen again, presumed shipwrecked off Cape Pillar during a gale. The conflicting evidence regarding the demise of Capt Chase comes from Knopwood's Diary. On page 468 he writes that Chase is the commander of the "Governor Brisbane", colonial schooner. Knopwood says that this boat arrived Hobart on the 13th April 1826 from a sealing voyage, he has this boat departing again on the 23rd September 1826 on another sealing voyage.There is no further mention of the "Governor Brisbane" or of Samuel Rodman Chase in Knopwood's Diary after this entry. Samuel's widow, Marianne Letitia Chase (nee Collins) married John Davidson on the 7th May 1829 in Hobart. Marianne Letitia died in 1860 aged 72, however the register has her as Mary Ann Letitia Chase and not Davidson - how come? . There might be some Chace/Chase descendants on this list that maybe able to shed some light on these little dilemmas.” From Liz Penprase to Aus-Tas. Both above on Aus-Tas roots online http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/AUS-Tasmania/2004-05/1083472034
20. William Cooper
21. Daniel Cowper
22. James Curley
23. Cottrel Cochrane
24. Davis
25. John Day  – Aka William Day  – 1829 – c40 – Hogan Group
26. John Dobson (Aka William Dobson) – Hunter Islands
27. Robert Rew/Drew
28. James Duncan
29. William Pelham Dutton
30. James Everett/Everitt
31. Thomas Fisher
32. Thomas Foster
33. Fox
34. Robert Gamble/Gemble
35. John Griffiths [Son]
36. Jonathan Griffiths [Father]
37. Thomas Hamilton
38. Edward Hanson    – Aka – Edward Tomlin/S [Son]
39. John Harrington
40. Samuel Harrington, Aboriginal son of John Harrington
    Samuel Harrington
    The Australian history of Samuel Harrington is more problematic. A published list of early 19th century sealer/Aboriginal liaisons in Tasmania has only one Harrington (Plomley and Henley 1990:64), who must logically be the same John Harrington said elsewhere in the same source to have lived in the Bass Strait islands with ‘WORE.TER.NEEM.ME.RUM.NER.TAT.TE.YEN.NE’, otherwise ‘Bet Smith’, who was abducted by him from Cape Portland as a child (Plomley 1966:1020). Harrington was, of course, a convict, who, two days after being discharged at Sydney on May 25 1820, sailed on the Little Mary for Port Dalrymple and Bass Strait (Plomley and Henley 1990:82–83) and the freedom of the sealing grounds. He drowned at Gun Carriage Island (now Vansittart Island, at the eastern end of the strait, which lies between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands) about December 1824, after which Bet Smith was ‘seized’ by Thomas Tucker, who sold her to Thomas Beadon (Plomley 1966:1020), or she was ‘claimed’ by John Williams (Plomley and Henley 1990:83). According to Robinson, Tucker was among those active in shooting Aboriginal men at their fires and then abducting their women (Plomley 1966:1017). Although the partner of John Harrington in the Plomley and Henley (1990:64) list is said to be from Van Diemen’s Land, rather than Australia (Cape Portland), this does not necessarily rule out Bet Smith or this particular Harrington. There is, however, a ‘half-caste’ Maria Harrington recorded twice by Plomley and Henley (1990:63): in 1827 aged 10 and living in the household of James Holman, and in an 1831 list of ‘half-caste’ children in Launceston, ‘aged about 17, a vagrant’. Maria cannot have been the child of a man who reached Tasmania in 1820, so there was one other Harrington/Aborigine liaison at least. Another John Harrington in Tasmania early enough to be the father of Maria, and perhaps Samuel, is listed among convicts brought from Norfolk Island in 1808 (Nobbs 1988:195), probably reaching Hobart on the City Of Edinburgh on October 5 that year (Nash pers comm. 2008). ‘T. McD.’ in The Lyttleton Times (July 6 1885) refers to Harrington at the time of a visit to Wairoa by Bishop Selwyn, Church of England archbishop of New Zealand, as follows: One very powerful fellow, a half-caste Australian black, was known by the name of Shiloh. He was “cock of the walk” at the Wairoa, being a first-class boat-steerer, harpooner, fighter, fifty-two inches round the chest, and a hard drinker. These virtues retained him possession of the position he had gained. The journal of Wairoa missionary the Reverend James Hamlin dates Selwyn’s visit to December 1845 (Hamlin Journal, December 9 and 11 1845, Hocken Library). Harrington was thus under Morrison at Wairoa, raising the possibility that he and perhaps Tomlins as well, and other Australian whalers, all came with Morrison at the end of 1843, possibly from Portland. Lambert (1925:370) writes that Harrington was a ‘Tasmanian half-caste’ who whaled at Mahia, Kinikini and Waikokopu and for Joseph Carroll at Te Hoe. Something of Harrington’s style is told by a court case regarding an incident at Mahia in 1851, reported by boatsteerer Joseph Mason (Hawke’s Bay Province, Donald McLean Papers, Folder 130A, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington). Harrington is said to have threatened and attacked his men, intending, it seems, to make them leave and break their contracts so he would not have to pay them out at the end of the season. This suggests he was owner of the station; otherwise, he presumably would not have had to bear the cost. Mason wrote to Donald McLean, as the only Justice of the Peace in the region, complaining that he had been ‘most Barbarously ill treated and my life threatend by one Samuel Harrington in a most shocking manner and sent away without my wages’. According to Mason, one day in October 1851, Harrington ordered the boat launched from his station with the purpose of going across the bay to Waikokopu for rum: Some time after we arrived there he was intoxicated aboute 12 o’clock at night he came down to the Boat Swearing in a most awfull maner and Enquiring where Hooper another whaler was the answer was lying on the grass where drunken people in general lay, he ordered us to launch the Boat which we did, when a short distance on the water he got up as one deprived of all reason and Seized a Boat Spade used to cut up the Whale’s Blubber, and a most deadly instrument. The boat with Harrington and two European and five Maori whalers aboard got home ‘after a while and with much trouble’. Next morning, Harrington: … raving like a mad man took up an axx and threatening to kill all around. Struck one of the Natives on the Back but did not do him much hurt the Native runing at the time and he after him. He then took up a tomahawk, swearing to kill anyone who opposed him. The whalers kept away from him, ‘knowing that all our wages depended upon his honesty and being now to the amount of from £21 to £30 and upwards so that it appears that he did not wish to pay us …’. Harrington then set fire to a house used by his Maori whalers. The court case did not consider the violence, which was probably thought the business only of those involved. Instead, it set out to determine current whaling practice in order to establish the justice of Mason’s claim. Four affidavits dated December 6 1851 are important in describing whaling practice in the bay at the time. The court’s decision was for Mason to be paid out at a 1¼ share, although this may not have ended the matter, as among the case papers is a note: ‘Mason agrees to take the share of 1 & ¼ which canot agree to pay’, and initials which might be ‘SWH’. Other cases heard the same day were Mason versus Carroll, seeking payment for the repair of a boat, and Stewart versus Mason for defamation and assault (McLean Journal, Vol. 4, p. 68, Alexander Turnbull Library), so Mason, too, may have been a difficult character. Samuel John Harrington is listed in the 1858 Ahuriri and Hawke’s Bay electoral roll as ‘whaler’ of Mohaka, in Hawke’s Bay south of Wairoa, qualifying as a householder (Hawke’s Bay Herald August 28 1858). He is listed under Mahia as a whaler in the first issue of Wise’s Directory, published in 1875 (Feilding ed 1875). He died at Wairoa on December 15 1875 (Hawke’s Bay Herald December 17 1875). From: pp. 360-362 Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aborigines in New Zealand sealing and shore whaling. Nigel Prickett, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand nprickett@aucklandmuseum.com

1. John Herrin Aka Harvey
2. Hepthernet
3. Antoine Hervel – Drowned
4. David Howie
5. Isaac
6. William Johnson
7. David Kelly Aka Kohn Kelly – 35
8. James Kirby
9. Robert Knight
10. George? Knowles
11. Little
12. Dennis McCarthy [see K.R. Von Stieglitz, History of New Norfolk, p.24: “Another venture of McCarthy [ex Norfolk Island] was to Kangaroo Island to get seal skins in the Henrietta Packet and then in April 1817 he advertised for men to go whaling in the brig SPRING, but no report has come down to us of what happened”.
13. Michael Mckenzie/Mackenzie
14. Duncan Mcmillan
15. Edward Mansell Aka Sydney
16. Edward Mansfield
17. Thomas Mason
18. Richard Maynard Aka John Todd
19. George Meredith
20. John Mira/Miree/Myrie/Mirey
21. John Mytie – c35 – Maori – Hercules Is
22. John Morgan/Hughes – convict – on king island in May 1831
23. Patrick Morrison Aka John Morrison?
24. George Morrison was the son of Patrick Morrison, of County Tyrone, Ireland, who was convicted in March 1792, aged 19, and arrived in New South Wales on the Boddington on August 7 1793 on a seven-year sentence (Principal Superintendent of Convicts, Bound Indents, 1786–1799, State Records NSW). Patrick was one of many convicts who made for the sealing grounds when they finished their sentence. Having suffered for long under the often brutal and generally brutalising convict regime, they may have wished for nothing more than to go somewhere they would be left alone and where there was the prospect, at least, of earning a living, and possibly a great deal more. A generation later, whaling stations on both sides of the Tasman would offer the same attractions. The younger Morrison was born on August 12 1817 on King Island, Bass Strait (Figure 3), and baptised with his brother Charles, older by one year, on October 9 1821 at St Johns, Launceston, when the family was living at Georgetown on the Tamar estuary (Baptisms in the Parish of St Johns, Launceston, Microfilm RGD 32/1, 1170/1821, Tasmanian State Archives). In the baptism register, their mother is named ‘Elizabeth’ and described simply as ‘A Native’. Patrick Morrison is likely to be the same as buried at Launceston on March 19 1824 after drowning, although his age given as 54 does not quite match 19 years in 1792 (Register of Burials, RGD 34/1, 1803–1838, 883/1824, Tasmanian State Archives). At the time, he is said to have been living at Launceston. George Morrison may be the same as a Morrison in charge of a whaling party at Portland in 1837 (Townrow 1997:12), although he was 19 or 20 at the time, which is young for such a position. He first appears in New Zealand as whaling master at Macfarlane’s fishery at Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay (Figure 4), in its first seasons in 1844 and 1845 (NZ Spectator and Cook’s Straits Guardian Febuary 22 1845, December 6 1845), possibly arriving to set up the station when men and stores were landed from Macfarlane’s Kate in December 1843. This date is given as part of evidence in a court case arising from Morrison selling whalebone to a man named Crummer
    when the station’s production rightfully belonged to Macfarlane as owner (NZ Spectator and Cook’s Straits Guardian September 27 1845). Crummer and Morrison claimed that Morrison and others were at Wairoa setting up a ‘share party’ before Macfarlane first arrived at the end of 1843. If so, this did not change Macfarlane’s ownership of the fishery, although it does leave open the date of Morrison’s arrival. The court found for Macfarlane. Morrison was at Wairoa
    just two seasons (NZ Spectator and Cook’s Straits Guardian February 22 1845, December 6 1845) before managing Perry’s Waikokopu station in 1846 (Wakefield 1848:193). In August 1849, his schooner Neptune was wrecked at Long Point on Mahia Peninsula (Ingram 1984:37). Later records of his New Zealand career have not been found. 
    From: Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aborigines in New Zealand sealing and shore whaling
    Nigel Prickett, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand
    nprickett@aucklandmuseum.com “.p.357-358.
    
25. Moss
26. James Munro Or Munroe
27. James Parish Or Parrish
28. Charles Peterson
29. William Proctor
30. Robert Rew Or Rue – Hunter Is
31. Michael Richards
32. John Richardson
33. John Riddle
34. Robert Robertson
35. George W Robinson

 From: Friendly Mission 10 November 1830

George Robinson lives on Woody Island. He is upwards of sixty years of age and is blind of one eye. A native of Scotland (the Clyde), Geordy Robinson came out free to Sydney in Governor Bowen’s time. (Underline indicates change made in accordance with ‘Supplement to Friendly Mission.’ N.J.B. Plomley THRA Papers ) Left with twenty-two others on account of some dispute with the Captain and came to VDL; was ten years on Kings Island. Spoke of two men who were murdered on Kings Island for their women. He has been industrious and has cultivated about two acres of land with wheat, potatoes, onions, cabbage &c. The wheat appeared very fine and was as high as my head, and the potatoes were excellent. The way the land is cultivated renders the place quite romantic, from the rocky place he has been obliged to cultivate in patches: (Underline indicates change made in accordance with ‘Supplement to Friendly Mission.’ N.J.B. Plomley THRA Papers ) you pass by winding walks through some underwood and then come to a beautiful cultivated spot and from thence to another. This island is altogether a beautiful place. He keeps fowls, pigs &c, and has several dogs and cats. Showed me the bacon he had made: was very good and the first made in the Straits. Gave me some hen’s eggs, two large pieces of crystal and some beads. He was very civil.

1. Rogers
2. John Scot Aka Old Scott
3. John Scott Aka Young Scott Aka George Scott
4. John SimmondsSimmons/Simons  Kable NSW
5. William Slack Aka Richard Slack
6. John Smith – took Aboriginal women from the main. c45 in 1829
7. John Smidmore
8. Samuel Snailhouse
9. John Starker Aka John Stocker
10. Robert Stonehouse
11. John Strugnell
12. “Sydney Black”
13. John Taylor – ‘mulatto’ USA – c38 – Kents Group – NZ woman
14. John Thomas/James Thomas – Long Tom – ex Ltn pilot – Briggs afterwards sold her to John Thomas alias Long Tom for a Guinea “…this man is still living in Launceston and is employed as Seaman on Board of Griffiths” c1829-31
15. Nathaniel Thomas
16. James Thompson
17. Tiger
18. Edward Tomlins – Tasmanian Aboriginal mother and european father Samuel Tomlins:
    “….With Australia the source of most New Zealand shore whalers, it is not surprising that one and two generations after the First Fleet sailed into Port Jackson some were of Aboriginal descent. Their fathers were convicts or ex-convicts. Mothers came from the many tribes that lived at or near the Australian coast and were largely dispossessed and dispersed early in the process of colonisation. The best known among them was Thomas Chaseland, whose convict father arrived in New South Wales in 1792 and later settled in the Hawkesbury district near Sydney. Chaseland was sealing at Foveaux Strait from c. 1824 and later whaled at several southern stations. Notable Hawke’s Bay whalers from the mixed-race sealing communities of Bass Strait and Kangaroo Island were George Morrison, Edward Tomlins and Samuel Harrington...”
    – And more from above source :
    [pp.358-160] Edward (Ned) Tomlins was born at Cape Barren in 1813 to Samuel Tomlins of Kangaroo Island
    (Plomley and Henley 1990:103) and a woman whose name George Robinson of the Tasmanian Aboriginal mission gives as POOL.RER.RE.NER, or BULL.RUB, BULLROE, BULRA and BOOLROI (Plomley 1966:1002). Edward was baptised at St John’s, Launceston, on January 22 1819 (Tipping 1988:197; Plomley and Henley 1990:103). His father was aged 20 when sentenced to seven years’ transportation, reaching Sydney in 1803 on the Calcutta and Hobart on January 1 1804 (Index to Tasmanian Convicts, Tasmanian State Archives; Tipping 1988:317; Plomley and Henley 1990:103). He was discharged in 1809 (Tipping 1988:197) and was soon on the sealing grounds between Australia and Van Diemen’s Land (Figures 1 and 3). Samuel Tomlins drowned in 1819 when the Jupiter was anchored at the Bay of Shoals, Kangaroo Island
    (Cumpston 1970:45; Plomley and Henley 1990:103). His son is also given as Tomlinson and ‘Edward Hanson’, although according to Plomley (1966:1016), the latter may be an error, since it appears only in part of Robinson’s journal which
    relies on a copy and where there are several apparently incorrect names. Robinson describes Tomlins in 1830 at Hunter Island as ‘a fine stout well-made young man about eighteen years of age’ (Plomley 1966:179). Plomley and Henley (1990:103) say he was 5 ft 8 inches (1.73 m) in height and stoutly built. George Dunderdale ([1898]:13) in ‘The Book of the Bush’ states that ‘Black Ned was a half-breed native of Kangaroo Island’. In 1830, he was living on Hunter
    Island with ‘NICK.ER.UM.POW.WER.RER.TER’, or ‘Mary’, of Leven River or Ben Lomond, Tasmania (Plomley 1966:1018). When Robinson visited in June 1830, the ‘head man’ of four Hunter Island sealers was Bay of Islands Maori ‘John Witieye’ (Plomley 1966:179), also probably an error, as elsewhere Robinson has MYTYE, MYTEE and MYET.EYE (Plomley 1966:1014). The name may have been ‘Maitai’. The other men were Robert Drew (Rew or Rue, see Plomley 1966:1015), David Kelly and ‘the half-caste youth, named Edward Hanson’ (Plomley 1966:180; but see above). In December 1830, Tomlins was one of five Hunter Island men marooned on the Clarke Island reef when their boat was lost (Figure 3). Two disappeared trying to reach safety in a makeshift craft, the others living for eight days on seal meat and blood before being rescued (Plomley 1966:295–296). In February 1832, Bulra arrived in Launceston from Kangaroo Island, where for years she had been living with a sealer named ‘Young Scott’ (Plomley 1966:801,1002). She went on to
    Hunter Island, probably because her son was there, but Edward left soon after on a whaling voyage to the ‘western coast of New Holland’, and may have sold or bartered his mother, who was soon living with John Dodson and then Robert ‘Rew’, both of them sealers and ex-convicts (Plomley 1966:1002). When Robinson returned to Hunter Island later in 1832, Bulra asked to be removed to the Aboriginal settlement on Flinders Island and was given up to him on August 17 (Plomley 1966:1002). At Flinders Island, she was probably at Lagoons until February 1833 and then at Wybalenna, when that settlement was established (see Birmingham 1992:129; Figure 3). In November 1832, Tomlins petitioned to have her returned to Hunter Island, but this was refused, Robinson advising: ‘… Tomlins is not a fit person to have charge of this woman he being wholly under the influence of the other sealers and himself addicted to drunkenness and immorality’ (Plomley 1966:802). Bulra died on Flinders Island probably before September 1835 (Plomley 1966:1002).
    Tipping (1988:317) states that Tomlins ‘was an associate of William Dutton in the early days of whaling at Portland Bay and became a famous harpooner’ (Figure 3). Nash (2003:91–92) has Dutton whaling for Launceston entrepreneurs Griffiths and Connolly in 1832 at Portland, which may have been the destination of Tomlins’ whaling voyage early that year (see above). He is also likely to have been one of 24 men taken to Portland by the Henry in April 1833
    (Cumpston 1970:120) for the second season. Dunderdale ([1898]:13) says that by 1835, Tomlins was ‘looked upon as the best whaler in the colonies, and the smartest man ever seen in a boat’. On March 19 1836, he left Launceston as a passenger on the Thistle (Index to Departures 1817–1867, from an original record POL (Port of Launceston) 458/2, p. 21, Tasmanian State Archives), probably for the Portland fishery at that time of year. The Thistle was at Portland
    as early as 1834, initially to set up the Henty station in opposition to Dutton (Cumpston 1970:123–124).
    On December 20 1836, ‘Edward Tomlinson’ was one of two headsmen on the barque Socrates (Captain Dutton), which left Launceston on a whaling voyage (POL 458/2, p. 56, Tasmanian State Archives). In early May 1836, the Socrates returned to Launceston from Portland with 23 tuns of sperm oil, with news that ‘bay whaling’ had commenced there (Chamberlain 1989:21). Thus, Tomlins at this time may have been whaling the year round, for sperm whales from the
    Socrates in summer and for right whales at Dutton’s Portland station from autumn to October. Cumpston (1970:115–125) has an account of Griffiths and the productive Portland fisheries (see Nash 2003:91–94). It is not known when Ned Tomlins arrived in Hawke’s Bay. Information on his New Zealand career comes largely from ‘An Old Colonist’, thought to be F.W.C. Sturm, writing in the Hawke’s Bay Herald in June 1868: ‘Where all were drunkards, Ned Tomlins was notorious; he was a valuable man, and an able headsman.’ In his ‘Old Wairoa’, Thomas Lambert (1925:368)
    describes Tomlins as ‘said to be one of the best whalers that ever stepped into a boat’ (apparently after Dunderdale), and recklessly generous, once giving away one of three sperm whales he had taken in exchange for a bucket of water. Lambert (1925:368) says he worked for Captain Mansfield and whaled out of Waikokopu and Kinikini. At Waikokopu, he probably whaled with Morrison, whom he may have known from Portland. Tomlins died there after a successful day’s whaling. More drunk than others who were playing cards, he was turned out of a house, but insisted on trying to get back in. Finally, he was hit by the station owner, a man named Perry, and thrown from the door, later to be found dead outside. Perry himself read the burial service. This happened before Perry died of ‘apoplexy’ on the beach at Mahia in 1853.
    Tomlins and Hipora Iwikatea of Mohaka had one son, also Edward Tomlins, who had three children, a girl Akenehi, a boy Tamati, and a second girl Hera. Hipora Iwikatea died on November 12 1900, her son Edward predeceasing her on December 15 1892 (Parsons pers comm. 2008). From: Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aborigines in New Zealand sealing and shore whaling Nigel Prickett, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand: nprickett@aucklandmuseum.com
19. Samuel Tomlins [Father] Of Edward Tomlins – drowned between 11/1818 and March 1819.
    “…Captain Thomas Hammond of the colonial brig Endeayour was at the island early in l8l7 and found thirteen Europeans living there of whom only one is named, George Fifer. The Jupiter (Captain Ainsworth) reported the death by drowning of Samuel Tomlins, ‘one of the island men’, between November l8l8 and March 1819. From the report on Captain Sutherland’s visit in l8l9 we learn that ‘several Europeans assembled there; some who have run from ships that traded for salt; others from Sydney and Van Diemen’s Land, who were prisoners of the Crown’. They are complete  savages, living in bark huts like the natives, not cultivating anything, but living entirely on kangaroos, emus, and small porcupines, and getting spirits and tobacco in barter for the skins which they lay up during the sealing season. They dress in kangaroo skins without linen, and wear sandals made of sealskins. They smell like foxes. They have carried their daring acts to extreme, venturing on the mainland in their boats, and seizing on the natives, particularly the women, and keeping them in a state of slavery, cruelly beating them on every trifling occasion; and when at last some of the marauders were taken off the island by an expedition from New South Wales, these women were landed on the main with their children and dogs to procure a subsistence, not knowing how their own people might treat them after a long absence. Sutherland reported that there were about twelve sealers on the island <Kangaroo Island>, at an inlet of Salt Water Creek (South West River, between Cape de Couedic and Cape Bouguer). He did not name them. Although they grew no vegetables, they said there was a plant growing wild on the island that was as good as cabbage. When the brig Sophia (Captain James Kelly) reached Hobart from Macquarie….” [p.49 of Plomley and Henley]
20. Thomas Tucker
21. Turnbull
22. John Tyack
23. Welsh Jack
24. James West
25. Henry Whalley
26. John Williams 1
27. John Williams 2 – Norfolk Island Jack, James Williams – Kent Group
28. Yankee Bob

More about sealing and New Zealand from From: Trans-Tasman stories: Australian Aborigines in New Zealand sealing and shore whaling, p.362 by Nigel Prickett, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand
nprickett@aucklandmuseum.com  

“…In Making Peoples, historian James Belich (1996:131–132) notes the importance of the sealing industry to early Maori/Pakeha contact in southern New Zealand. He goes on, ‘Sealing also pioneered a Tasman world’, and he describes sealers, whalers and seamen who did not distinguish between two sides of the Tasman in their activities, with Bass and Foveaux Straits and the subantarctic islands all being referred to as the ‘Sealing Islands’, in ‘a joint past historians in both countries seem reluctant to recognise’. Sydney was for long one of New Zealand’s most important cities and New Zealand one of Sydney’s most important hinterlands (Belich 1996:134). Sealing and whaling industries developed capital needed for Australia’s early economic growth and were among New Zealand’s first significant commercial activities (see Steven 1965; Hainsworth
1972). Tomlins, Morrison and Harrington came from the mixed-race sealing communities of Bass Strait and Kangaroo Island. Robinson describes how sealers shot Aboriginal men as they sat around their fires, and then abducted the women (e.g. Plomley 1966:966). Or women were traded by Aborigines themselves, from their own tribes or others from which they had been abducted (Ryan 1977:30–31). At first, women were made available for the sealing season only, but as sealers began to stay on throughout the year, so too did their ‘wives’. By 1816, sealers each might have two to five women for sexual and domestic purposes. Robinson refers to them as ‘slaves’ (Plomley 1966:1008). In 1830, Tomlins’ headsman at Hunter Island, the Maori ‘John Witieye’, had two women (Plomley 1966:180). Coastal tribes were devastated, Robinson reporting just three women with 72 men in Tasmania’s northeast, also in 1830 (Plomley 1966:966).

Sealers in Bass Strait and elsewhere in Australian waters 1806 [From: Musters of NSW and Norfolk Island 1805-1806, Edited by Carol J. Baxter. ABGR, Sydney, 1989.]

DRAFT LIST – More information about non Aboriginal people in Bass Strait or linked with Bass Strait – alphabetical by name – people of interest [please post any contributions to the message box below]:

CAMPBELL

William FREEMAN: Workmen ashore were paid daily wages. Mariners were usually paid wages with the master sometimes taking a share of the catch to whet his enthusiasm. However, after about 1809 we find mariners being paid in LAYS at times, both of catches and of theproceeds of other voyages. The sealers themselves were paid in lays, that is, aspecified percentage of the total catch of the fangs to which they belonged. Some shore personnel occasionally went to the sealing grounds, as when cooper William Freeman was paid 120 pounds to go to King Island to make  barrels. TA 1 No 289 Mitchell lib MSS A 3609.[Ref.?]

KABLE:

In 1805 a boat from Cape Barren rowed (?) to Port Dalrymple to beg provisions from Lieut Gov Paterson for 20 men in Kable and Underwood’s employ. A Campbell crew in the same area had been 10 weeks without provisions, and were ‘languishing  in cold and hunger’  HRNSW v  688 Campbell usually allowed 7 lbs of meat a week, a pound of sugar, but only 8 pounds of flour or biscuit. When rations were exhausted the men were compensated at 10s a week. [Iron: 22]

William MORIARTY

UNDERWOOD