AustLit

'A central question in Henry Reynolds' 'Fate of a Free People' (1995) concerned whether an agreement or treaty was effected between the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land and the colonial authorities, resulting in the voluntary relocation of Aborigines from the Tasmanian mainland to Flinders Island in the 1830s. Reynolds built a circumstantial case that the 'Conciliator' George Augustus Robinson made certain promises 'on behalf of the government', including a commitment to allow Aborigines to return and visit their country. Reynolds wondered whether Governor George Arthur 'attempt[ed] to negotiate a settlement with the Tasmanians whilst the war was in progress'. Although focused on a petition later written by the Aborigines to Queen Victoria and on the role of females who accompanied Robinson, Reynolds noted in passing that the 'contemporary historian and newspaper editor, Henry Melville, reported a conversation between Arthur and Black Tom, a ''civilized'' Aborigine whom Arthur wished to employ as a negotiator'. Although Reynolds did not specifically draw the connection, he later quoted Robinson's journal description of a key negotiation that had taken place 'in the presence of Kickerterpoller'.'  (Publication abstract)