Flinders Island Saturday 16 October 2021
I woke to the sound of rain and it was pretty grey across
the water as I opened my eyes. And given we didn't have to be anywhere in
particular today, I could have just rolled over and gone back to sleep but
instead I enjoyed the ocean which I find spectacular no matter what the
weather. By the time I had made cuppas and were enjoying them in bed, while
watching the tide go out (which exposed a rock outcrop about 50 metres out from
the beach), we weren't going to let a grey day stop us. We enjoyed our eggs and
bacon for breakfast, followed by elevenses, and then packed a few snacks as we
werre heading north today which means we would be nowhere near shops. Our
closest shop is Whitemark, which is 38km away, and of course, only open until
1pm on a Saturday!! So we had well and truly missed it anyway.
We did head south initially, but only to the Port Davies
road which led to Emita, Wybelenna and Settlement Point. I have learnt a lot
more about Tasmanian Aboriginal history since living in Tassie. In the 1830’s,
George Augustus Robinson was tasked by the Governor with the unenviable task of
“rounding up” all Aboriginal people and taking them to an outer island. He
started out from Hobart, making his way north via the east and west slowly. I
don't think he was a bad man, he had just been given a bad task. To his credit,
he was diligent in recording everything he saw. He learnt a lot of the various
Aboriginal languages and recorded these as best he could. His notes were
fundamental 150 years later in the development of palawa kani, the current
Tasmanian Aboriginal language, which is a hybrid of previous languages. So he
brought his collection of Aboriginal people to Wybelenna (which means Black Mans House) where he had promised these people Wybelenna would be a place where
Aboriginal people could practice their cultural traditions amd ceremonies.
Unfortunately, it became more like a prison as camp conditions deteriorated and
sickness killed so many. At this point, it is considered Robinson abandoned
the Aboriginal people and as such, his place in history is now seen as negative
by the Aboriginal community. Eventually, the Aboriginal community was relocated
to Cape Barren Island, although many were forced back to Oyster Cove near
Hobart. It would take another 140 years before Cape Barren became the
Aboriginal conservation area that Robinson promised.
So we spent a fascinating hour at the Furneaux Museum
which covered a lot of this history, including an excerpt of Greg’s
grandmother's book. We then headed to the restored Wybelenna Chapel - the only
remaining building from “Black Mans Camp”.
Inside, is this photo of the Cape
Barren inhabitants in 1911. You can see we found the teenagers who went
on to become Greg’s great grandparents!
Down the road, was the Wybelenna
cemetery. Unfortunately, most of the marked graves are from recent deaths, but
there has been a good attempt to record the names or family details of most
Aboriginal people buried there. Only about 12 from the 107 who died there are
unnamed.
After this sad trip into the past, we headed out to
Settlement Point where the ships first landed with Robinson's Aboriginal
prisoners. Now it is a mutton bird breeding ground, with beautiful views back across
Marshall Bay. Our next stop was down the little track to Castle Rock, where
the carpark at the end of the track was a huge flat rock itself! A little walk
out to Castle Rock itself, which was quite spectacular.
Turning north again, we continued past our accommodation
turnoff and headed towards Killiecrankie, famous for it’s “diamonds” - a rare
white topaz found only here. There is a small community here, with one of the
largest collection of houses in a small area on the island. The beach is
beautiful, being overlooked by the magnificent Mount Killiecrankie. After a
sticky beak here, we kept heading north, turning east towards North East River.
At the point, overlooking Inner Sister Island and Outer Sister Island, we
watched the entrance of the estuary where the waves tried to crash in but the
wind was trying to blow them back!
Beautiful white sand and gorgeous blue
water. Some great campsites out here too, if you can get your caravan over! On
the way back out, we checked out the farm belonging to our neighbours (whose
island based car we are driving around in) before heading north to Palana
beach. It was after 5pm by this stage so we headed for home. Some biscuits,
cheese and wine while I threw carrot offcuts to the very friendly roos on the
front grass! Dinner and a fire as the wind whistled around the house.
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