Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Walter George Arthur
Walter George Arthur (c.1820 – 12 May 1861) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian leader, newspaper editor, drover, whaler and pioneering Indigenous rights activist.
Arthur was born around 1820. His parentage is unclear but he himself stated that he was from the clan of people who inhabited the region around Ben Lomond in north-eastern Van Diemen's Land. It is possible that he was the son of Rolepa (also known as Trowlebunner), a senior man of the Ben Lomond tribe and that his mother was probably either Luggenemenener or Toogernupertooner also from this tribe.
As a young Indigenous boy, Arthur lived through the violence and dispossession of British colonisation and the Black War. During this period, he became separated from his kin and taken from his country in unclear circumstances. He appears to have been too young to retain much knowledge of his people's language and culture. He lived on the streets of the British colonial settlement of Launceston with another Aboriginal boy, where in order to survive, they became joined to a criminal gang, working as a petty thieves and pickpockets. He was referred to by the name of "Friday".
In February 1832 Arthur and the other Aboriginal boy were taken off the streets of Launceston by George Augustus Robinson, an evangelical Christian who was employed by the colonial government to round up the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians. Robinson sent the boys to the orphan school in Hobart where the other boy died but Arthur survived and learnt to read and write in English.
In May 1835, he was transported to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, where almost all the other 200 or so surviving Aboriginal Tasmanians were placed into exile.
At the Wybalenna facility, he was no longer called "Friday", but was given the name of Walter George Arthur, after the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur. He was one of the most educated (in a European sense) Aborigines at Wybalenna and taught reading and writing in English to the other inmates. He also assisted in church services and was a co-editor with another Aboriginal youth named Thomas Brune of the small newspaper at the establishment called the Flinders Island Chronicle. This publication was the first ever Indigenous Australian newspaper and ran for 31 issues between 1837 and 1838. Its production consisted of single page, handwritten issues and often gave important insights into the hard life at Wybalenna, such as the following quote from 1837 when twenty-nine people died:
Let us hope...that something may be done for us poor people they are dying away the Bible says some or all shall be saved but I am much afraid none of us will be alive. Why don't the blackfellows pray to the king to get us away from this place.
Arthur also began a sexual relationship with a young Indigenous women named Mary Ann, daughter of Tarenootairer. The couple were found in bed together and Arthur was punished with a four-day sentence in Wybalenna's prison. To avoid a scandal, George Augustus Robinson, who was now the superintendent at Wybalenna, arranged a marriage between the two on 16 March 1838. Walter and Mary Ann were then sent to live on the small islands off the coast of Flinders Island, farming the sheep belonging to the Wybalenna facility.
Hub AI
Walter George Arthur AI simulator
(@Walter George Arthur_simulator)
Walter George Arthur
Walter George Arthur (c.1820 – 12 May 1861) was an Aboriginal Tasmanian leader, newspaper editor, drover, whaler and pioneering Indigenous rights activist.
Arthur was born around 1820. His parentage is unclear but he himself stated that he was from the clan of people who inhabited the region around Ben Lomond in north-eastern Van Diemen's Land. It is possible that he was the son of Rolepa (also known as Trowlebunner), a senior man of the Ben Lomond tribe and that his mother was probably either Luggenemenener or Toogernupertooner also from this tribe.
As a young Indigenous boy, Arthur lived through the violence and dispossession of British colonisation and the Black War. During this period, he became separated from his kin and taken from his country in unclear circumstances. He appears to have been too young to retain much knowledge of his people's language and culture. He lived on the streets of the British colonial settlement of Launceston with another Aboriginal boy, where in order to survive, they became joined to a criminal gang, working as a petty thieves and pickpockets. He was referred to by the name of "Friday".
In February 1832 Arthur and the other Aboriginal boy were taken off the streets of Launceston by George Augustus Robinson, an evangelical Christian who was employed by the colonial government to round up the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians. Robinson sent the boys to the orphan school in Hobart where the other boy died but Arthur survived and learnt to read and write in English.
In May 1835, he was transported to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, where almost all the other 200 or so surviving Aboriginal Tasmanians were placed into exile.
At the Wybalenna facility, he was no longer called "Friday", but was given the name of Walter George Arthur, after the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur. He was one of the most educated (in a European sense) Aborigines at Wybalenna and taught reading and writing in English to the other inmates. He also assisted in church services and was a co-editor with another Aboriginal youth named Thomas Brune of the small newspaper at the establishment called the Flinders Island Chronicle. This publication was the first ever Indigenous Australian newspaper and ran for 31 issues between 1837 and 1838. Its production consisted of single page, handwritten issues and often gave important insights into the hard life at Wybalenna, such as the following quote from 1837 when twenty-nine people died:
Let us hope...that something may be done for us poor people they are dying away the Bible says some or all shall be saved but I am much afraid none of us will be alive. Why don't the blackfellows pray to the king to get us away from this place.
Arthur also began a sexual relationship with a young Indigenous women named Mary Ann, daughter of Tarenootairer. The couple were found in bed together and Arthur was punished with a four-day sentence in Wybalenna's prison. To avoid a scandal, George Augustus Robinson, who was now the superintendent at Wybalenna, arranged a marriage between the two on 16 March 1838. Walter and Mary Ann were then sent to live on the small islands off the coast of Flinders Island, farming the sheep belonging to the Wybalenna facility.
