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ultimately successful (from the perspective of the government) measure was put in place
whereby George Robinson, who had interacted positively with the Tasmanian Indigenous
Australians agreed or volunteered to live with the Indigenous population and persuade them
to “surrender to the authorities” (Dunlop & Pike, 1963, p. 75), and in return receive
protection from physical violence being committed against them. Although not explicitly
stated in the textbook, by referring to Robinson as “...a warm-hearted working man with
some knowledge of the language and ways of the aborigines...” (Dunlop & Pike, 1963, p. 74);
the authors are indicating that Robinson’s intentions were honourable and well-meaning,
even if the results are now considered devastating, as the following extract shows.
Arthur’s next social problem was the friction between the white settlers and the
aborigines. Originally peaceable, friendly people, the Tasmanian aborigines were
provoked by the outrageous conduct of many of the convicts to such an extent that
the bitterest hatred developed between the two races, with killings on either side.
Mass shootings took heavy toll of the blacks. An aboriginal Protection Committee
failed miserably to handle the situation and Arthur’s next step—the famous Black
Drive—provide even less successful. This great armed drive, which aimed to sweep
all the surviving aborigines into the Tasman Peninsula, ended in the capture of one
old man and a boy, for an outlay of £30,000.
George Robinson, a warm-hearted working man with some knowledge of the
language and ways of the aborigines, was then allowed by Arthur to approach the
problem from a more humanitarian angle. Going unarmed among the aborigines as
the emissary of the Government, he finally prevailed upon almost all the blacks, by
his patience and kindly confidence, to surrender to the authorities, who formed a
settlement of some 200 of them on Flinders Island in 1835. Here this pitiful handful
of survivors of the primitive Tasmanian race slowly sickened and died. By 1876 they
were extinct. (Dunlop & Pike, 1963, pp. 74-75)
By including information with such brevity, not only is a thorough contextualisation of the
events which led to the decimation of Indigenous Australians from Tasmania not able to be
made, but the risk is that misinformation is provided to school students. For example, the last
three sentences read: “...formed a settlement of some 200 of them on Flinders Island in 1835.
Here this pitiful handful of survivors of the primitive Tasmanian race slowly sickened and
died. By 1876 they were extinct” (Dunlop & Pike, 1963, p. 75). No mention is made of the
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