Discovery of Tasmania
Timetable
- In 1642 the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered the island of Tasmania for the Europeans. He sailed on behalf of the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, Anton van Diemen , which is why he also called the island Van Diemens Land.
- In 1798, Captain Matthew Flinders circled the island and thus demonstrated Tasmania's island character, while Tasman had assumed a peninsula .
- In 1803 Tasmania became British .
History of discovery - In search of the Terra Australis incognita
European historians usually give the Dutch Willem Jansz as the official discoverer of Australia . In the course of the colonization of Indonesia , many Dutch cargo ships passed through the Indian Ocean at this time . Jansz made an attempt to land on the west coast of the Australian York Peninsula near Mapoom in 1606 , but was routed by the Aborigines . 200 miles further south, the Aurukum members allowed him to go ashore. Immediately they began to build a settlement. At first the relationship with the locals was relaxed; but when the settlers kidnapped an Aboriginal, bloody clashes broke out. Half of the Dutch were killed and the settlement was abandoned.
Up until then, Australia - or 'New Holland' as it was called in the 17th and 18th centuries - was not recorded on any world map ; Nevertheless, rumors of the existence of a southern continent ( terra australis ) were circulating much earlier . In Europe they were convinced that there had to be another larger land mass in the south of the earth hemisphere, otherwise it would be impossible for the earth to be able to keep its balance on its axis.
Portuguese
Portuguese ships were already traveling the western Pacific at the beginning of the 16th century . New Guinea was discovered by the Spanish and Portuguese in 1525 . It is probably thanks to the Portuguese that a map of Australia, albeit a very rough one, already existed in England in the late 16th century, about ten years before the landing of Jansz (Przemyslaw 1990: 89f).
This fact is rarely mentioned in the history of the discovery of Australia. The scholar Richard Henry Major was already convinced of the discovery of the Australian continent by the Portuguese on the basis of a (different) map in the middle of the last century: “The facts that I was able to bring together led me to the conclusion that the country I mentioned , called Java - la - Grande on French maps, cannot be anything other than Australia, and that it was discovered before 1542 can almost be taken as proven. [...] We must therefore come to the conclusion that [...] the discovery of the continent of New Holland can be attributed to the Portuguese. The facts which I have been able to bring together lead me to the conclusion that the land described as Java - la - Grande on the French maps to which I have reffered can be no other than Australia, and that it was discovered before 1542 may be almost accepted as demonstrable certainity. [...] We must therefore come to the conclusion [...] that the discovery of the continent New Holland belongs to the Portuguese "(Mc Intyre 1977: 200).
Kenneth Mc Intyre took up this theory again in 1977 and comes to the conclusion that the Portuguese had already entered Australia in the 1620s. In the same year, Mc Kiggan's research led to the same result. He dates the discovery of Australia by Europeans (Portuguese) to the year 1522 (Mc Intyre 1977: 200; Mc Kiggan 1977). There is even evidence that the Portuguese landed in Tasmania (Robson 1983: 3). Anyway; There are no logbooks or other written sources from this period, which is why this epoch is only of secondary importance in this context.
Malays
Also rarely mentioned in the historical literature are non-European sea expeditions in the Australian history of discovery. The northern coast of Australia was known to the seafarers of the Malay archipelago long before the arrival of the Europeans (Wopfner 1997: 1). Since the 15th century at the latest, commercial travelers from New Guinea were present in the islands of the Torres Strait and the Cape York Peninsula (Przemyslaw 1990: 91f). Long-term trade relations also existed between the Bugis from Sulawesi and the Aborigines of North and West Australia (Przemyslaw 1990: 91ff). Her main interest was the sea cucumber (Holoturia nobilis), which was then and now a delicacy in Asia and especially in China . The sea cucumber, better known under the name of trepang , has great healing properties and magical properties ( aphrodisiac ). It was fished and preserved in Australia. A season lasted four to five months. Between the 15th century and the end of the 18th century, these trade relations had a lasting influence on the culture of the coastal population in northern and northwestern Australia and on the Torres Strait (Przemyslaw 1990: 92; Wilpert 1987: 128ff). They bartered for metal axes, knives and spearheads. They learned to build boats with outriggers, adopted melodies, musical instruments, and even a Chinese card game. These influences also made themselves felt in languages and customs. There was a more pronounced sedentary lifestyle and a tighter political organization.
Dutch
Regardless of this, it was the Dutch who brought new customers to Europe via the southern continent and thus ushered in a new era. After Willem Jansz, the 'discoverer' of Australia, Jan Carstensz , Frederick de Houtman , Dirk Hartog , Willem de Vlamingh , François Pelsaert , Pieter Nuysz and many other Dutchmen, who mostly traveled in merchant ships, bought spices, gold and other goods record.
The most famous of them was Abel Janszoon Tasman , who is considered to be the discoverer of Tasmania. Tasman reached Tasmania on November 24, 1642 and named it 'Van Diemensland' in honor of the then Governor General of the Dutch East Indies , Antony van Diemen . He set out from Batavia and reached the island with the 'Heemskerck' and the 'Zeahaen' after 72 days. He was an experienced navigator and was assigned to visit the southern continent and explore the area there. He was also supposed to look for a sea route through the Pacific to South America in order to open up new markets and resources, which he managed to do both.
In general, Abel Tasman ought to be mentioned in the same course as the great explorers and early seafarers due to his geographical discoveries: He discovered Tasmania, New Zealand and the route south past Tasmania through the Pacific to South America . He was also the first to see the full extent of New Holland (Australia). Tasman explored the north coast of Australia (1644) from what is now Western Australia , which he called 'Eendrachtland', across the Gulf of Carpentaria to Queensland ('Carpentaria'). On this occasion he discovered that New Guinea was separated from Australia by a strait ( Torres Strait ). An impressive achievement, but one that never really earned him fame and reputation.
There was a simple reason for this: Tasman was the discoverer of Tasmania, but did not discover the island's inhabitants, as is sometimes claimed. Although he recognized that the island was inhabited, he never saw its inhabitants. On all his travels, although a daring seafarer, he exercised the utmost caution in contact with 'savages', and when it could be avoided he avoided it altogether. This cautiousness was officially accused during his lifetime, prevented his fame, but at the same time favored his privilege of dying as the discoverer of a natural death.
He anchored on the east coast of Tasmania in 1642 and was forced to replenish his water supplies. The rumors that were common at the time still rang in his ears, saying that this remote part of the world is home to monsters and giants. That is why he restricted the trips ashore to the bare minimum. One of his people discovered two trees 18 to 20 meters high, about four meters in circumference, with notches made. They correctly interpreted these notches as a climbing aid for the local population, but at the time they thought that they were used to cut bird nests. In fact, they had been beaten for possum hunting . The distance between the straight upward notches seemed to confirm Tasman's fears. The distance between the notches was about one and a half meters, from which he concluded "that these people are either of enormous size or have a certain way of climbing trees that we are not used to". Although the latter was true, Tasman assumed a gigantic population, thus fueling the rumors that existed in Europe. After this observation he only carefully approached the shore once more, let one of his men swim ashore, who hoisted the Dutch flag there, and left the island with the advice that a sudden change in the weather would make a further landing impossible.
No further landings on the island are documented for the next 130 years. It was called 'Van Diemensland' for over 200 years and was only renamed Tasmania in 1853.
Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne
Accordingly, the French captain Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne , the leader of the second European expedition, was the first to have contact with the Tasmanian Aborigines. He put up not far from Tasman's landing site on the east coast of the island to also take in fresh wood and water supplies. He was given the task of using his ships 'Le Mascarin' and 'Le Marquis de Castries' to find new trade routes and to look for a shorter route to China. Du Fresne and his companions Jules Crozet and Saint-Allouarn discovered the Crozet Islands on their travels in the Indian Ocean . They were primarily seafarers and had no scientific knowledge. Their worldview was shaped by the pioneering work of Rousseau , which is why Fresne, unlike Tasman, did not expect to encounter monsters, but “ noble savages ” (nobles sauvages): naked, happy people in their original state, embedded in a garden of Eden (Robson 1983: 6; Bonwick 1870b: 2).
Consequently, the Europeans were also undressed when they first met (Ryan 1981: 50) in order to break down barriers and nip any suspicion in the bud. On the morning of March 7, 1772, they approached the coast of North Bay in two boats. A group of thirty Aborigines ran towards them on the beach. Their wives and children, however, sought refuge in the adjacent forests.
One of the men broke away from the group and came up to them, then stopped in the water and made signs for the French to come closer. Two crew members swam naked on the beach on Du Fresnes sign. When they arrived there, they were given a torch by an elderly Aboriginal. The two French interpreted this gesture as a sign of peace and acknowledged it by handing the man a mirror. These were handed out in turn and, like the skin color of the newcomers, aroused great astonishment. After a thorough examination of the two sailors, the locals put the spears aside and began dancing in front of them.
Satisfied with how the contact had gone so far, the Europeans docked with two boats and were also given torches. In return, they handed over some scraps of cloth and knives. The harmonious mood turned into excitement when a third French boat approached the bank. Extremely excited, the locals tried to prevent this landing with gestures and shouts. Du Fresne signaled the boat's crew to turn back. However, the boat was carried ashore by the surf. Thereupon a hail of spears and stones fell on the French. Du Fresne and some of his men were injured by the stones and opened fire. One Aboriginal was killed and several were injured. The rest of them fled, screaming in panic.
The French left the island and sailed on to New Zealand. Contact with the Māori in New Zealand cost Marion du Fresne her life. He and some members of the crew were ambushed, killed and allegedly eaten by the Māori (Robson 1983: 6). When the most important chronicler of this expedition, Crozet, described these events to Rousseau after his return home, Rousseau replied, deeply dismayed: “Is it possible that the good children of nature can really be so bad?” (After Ryan 1981: 50).
James Cook
A year later, Captain James Cook was sailing the Endeavor in the waters south of Tasmania. After cruising there in search of land, he wanted to call on Tasmania. This plan was thwarted by the weather conditions and he sailed on to New Zealand. However , he lost contact with his escort ship Adventure under the command of Tobias Furneaux due to thick fog. Furneaux anchored off Tasmania at the agreed meeting point and undertook several land expeditions. During his five-day stay in Adventure Bay, named after his ship, east of Bruni Island, there was no contact with the Tasmanian population. Based on his observations, he concluded that they knew neither permanent settlements nor boats, and described them as a wretched, ignorant race that was completely unable to use the privileges of the good climate and the lush, fertile landscape (Völger 1971: 24; Robson 1983 : 27).
After Cook was absent, Furneaux set off for New Zealand, where he also arrived. Cook was only to see Tasmania on his third trip. On the Resolution he landed on January 26, 1777 also in Adventure Bay and stayed for four days. Cook, long fascinated by Tasmania, was the first to suspect Tasmania might be an island. Up until now it was believed that Tasmania was the southernmost tip of Australia. This thought preoccupied him as early as 1773 on his second trip. Due to time constraints, he was forced to leave this question alone. Because his actual mission was to look for a suitable sea route between the Pacific and Atlantic.
Fortunately, Cook's urge to discover was not limited to geographic issues. He was also fascinated by Rousseau's theses and was looking for 'savages' in their supposed original state. He was impressed by the culture of the Australian Aborigines: “From what I have said about the natives of New Holland, they might appear to some as the poorest people in the world, but in reality they are much happier than we Europeans; without any knowledge not only of the superfluous but also of the necessary conveniences which one seeks so much in Europe, they are fortunate precisely in not knowing what they are for. They live in a calm that is not disturbed by social inequality of living conditions ”(Heintze 1987: 70).
This peculiar mixture of curiosity and tolerance led to the fact that his stay is often referred to as the first of ethnological value (Ryan 1981: 51). Cook did not return to Europe from this third trip. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779 . The statements of Cook's officer William Anderson , who had a decisive influence on the image of the Tasmanian Aborigines in Great Britain, were all the more influential .
While Cook's notes provided many valuable details about looks, jewelry, hairstyle, and behavior, Anderson was full of disgust for the people encountered: it was their shamelessness that overwhelmed him. The French were already amused by the Aborigines' habit of playing with the penis in public . It also happened that while standing, without changing their position in the slightest - sometimes even during a conversation - they knocked off water so that the urine ran down their legs. In addition, both sexes were usually completely naked (Robson 1983: 27). Anderson and most of his compatriots were so appalled by this that resentment and revulsion towards the Aborigines began to spread in Britain.
It was in this intolerant attitude that the British explorers generally differed from the French. This is one of the reasons why the most valuable ethnographic data of this period can be traced back to the French. Their motivation was also far less shaped by ownership claims, strategic considerations, and trade and economic interests than that of the British. The French were influenced by Rousseau, Lafiteau and others, and shaped by the ideals of the emerging French Revolution . Cook's descriptions of his contacts with the locals, although rich in detail, must leave many questions unanswered because of the shortness of his stay.
From 1775 to 1783 Great Britain fought in the North American War of Independence . On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, and in 1783 Great Britain had to recognize this independence in the Peace of Paris . This was the most significant defeat of the colonial power Great Britain. Because of this defeat, Great Britain intensified its imperialist aspirations.
Arthur Phillip
In May 1787, Governor Arthur Phillip set out with eleven armed ships from Great Britain for Australia. His destination was Botany Bay on the east coast of Australia, which was described by the German geographer and naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster as the Land of Eden. After a seven-month voyage, the fleet anchored off Botany Bay. Upon closer investigation, the bay turned out to be completely unsuitable for settlement. They sailed on, discovered the natural harbor of today's Sydney and founded the first Australian settlement Port Jackson in 1788 . This was the only major settlement in Australia until the end of the 18th century. It was not until 1803 that a second followed in Tasmania. Port Jackson's population consisted of the 1,500 total passengers who accompanied Governor Arthur Phillip. These were state officials, soldiers and 757 deported prisoners, including 192 women and 18 children (Przemyslaw 1990: 95).
According to European historians, the first settlers gave gifts in exchange for the land. Nevertheless, the settlement, which consisted exclusively of wooden houses until 1816, had to be surrounded by strong palisades and constantly guarded by the military until 1840. There were repeated armed clashes with Australian Aborigines.
The founding of the settlement of Port Jackson in Eastern Australia is of central importance for the history of discovery (see Appendix A) of Tasmania. Since it was still believed that Tasmania was a peninsula on the Australian continent, all ships coming from Europe on the way to Port Jackson initially headed for the southern tip of Tasmania and often anchored briefly on the Tasmanian east coast. From then on, the sight of Europeans was no longer uncommon for the east coast population of Tasmania.
William Bligh
The next recorded contact was in August 1788. The Englishman William Bligh anchored with the 'Bounty' in Adventure Bay. He was on his way to Tahiti to bring saplings from the breadfruit tree to the West Indies . Bligh knew what to expect, having been here eleven years earlier as a navigator on Cook's third voyage. Tasmania was so strategically located for the British that Bligh's crew planted a row of fruit trees in Adventure Bay near a spring to facilitate the provision of provisions for subsequent travelers. Contacts with the people of Bruni Island were peaceful: when they discovered the landing craft , they raised their arms over their heads and, according to Bligh, fell into an excited 'chatter' that reminded him of geese. After a brief examination, they put all the presents presented on their heads (Gould 1980: 9; Turnbull 1963: 35).
The spectrum of the handling of gifts from European explorers ranged from complete rejection to total ecstasy, with the British usually perceiving rejection as a personal insult. The French, on the other hand, saw this negative attitude with goodwill (Robson 1983: 26f), because they saw their image of the perfection of the paradisiacal original state confirmed. It is possible that Bligh's contact was the same families that Cook visited eleven years earlier (cf. Völger 1971: 26). In any case, his short report does not contain any important innovations. It was not discovered until a short time later that Adventure Bay (Fig. 8) was not on the coast of Tasmania, but on an inhabited island in front of it.
Bligh's actual mission, transporting the breadfruit tree seedlings to the West Indies, failed because of the famous mutiny on the Bounty . Nevertheless, four years later he was entrusted with the same job again and this time anchored on February 8, 1792 in Adventure Bay off Bruni Island. Only one of its plants, an apple tree, had survived. During this two-week stay (his third and last) he made a number of interesting observations and speculated about ethnological problems that have not yet been satisfactorily clarified (cf. Völger 1971: 26).
John Henry Cox
Between Bligh's visits, Captain John Henry Cox made his way to Tasmania (Robson 1983: 8). He ran out of Great Britain on February 28, 1789 and arrived at the southwest tip of Tasmania on July 3. Cox ushered in the epoch of seal and whale hunters, which was so important from an ethnological point of view , by bringing news to Great Britain of the abundant marine mammal fauna in this part of the world. He was probably not aware that he was becoming one of the harbingers of the decline of Tasmanian culture, because he was on friendly terms with the island's population. During his stay on Maria Island , where a brief encounter with the Tasmanian Aborigines took place, he gave Oyster Bay its name.
He described her as happy, harmless, and completely uncultivated. Although they were rather self-conscious, they found great fun in imitating the movements and facial expressions of Europeans. Ethnographically more significant than the meeting itself, at which again exchanged gifts were refused, were his observations in the days before the brief contact. As was so often the case in this era of explorers, he found several campsites that had been abandoned shortly before. He subjected their inventory to more detailed investigations.
Joseph Bruny d'Entrecasteaux
Bligh had just finished his third sojourn on Van Diemen's Land or Bruni Island when ships reappeared off the coast of Tasmania. It was the French who set a milestone in the history of Tasmania with this expedition. For the first time, the island was entered and explored by top-class scientists. They had been sent from France to look for signs of life from an earlier French expedition: in 1785 Jean Francois Galoup de la Pérouse had been sent with two research vessels and never returned.
Joseph Bruny d'Entrecasteaux had the assignment to clarify the whereabouts of these two lost ships and to explore the South Seas and its resources. He anchored off the coast of Tasmania on April 21, 1792 (Robson 1983: 8; Ryan 1981: 53). Scientists of all stripes were on board: naturalists, botanists, draftsmen, cartographers, doctors and astronomers, including some of the most talented researchers France had to offer at the time (Ryan 1981: 53).
The leader of the Expedition d'Entrecasteaux did not return to France. He died of scurvy on this trip . In addition to Captain Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec , two crew members in particular made a name for themselves: EPE Rossel, the first officer of the 'Recherche', who published in Paris in 1808 about this expedition. His report is based, among other things, on the diary of d'Entrecasteaux. The richest travelogue comes from the pen of the 34-year-old naturalist Jacques Julien Houtou de Labillardière , which also contains detailed descriptions of the islanders' way of life.
D'Entrecasteaux called at the southeast coast of Tasmania twice on this trip. The first investigation lasted from April 21st to the end of May 1792. They returned in January 1793 and stayed until February. Overall, her stay in Tasmania lasted about ten weeks (Plomley 1966c: 3). During this time there were numerous, harmonious encounters with the local population.
The French approached the Tasmanian people very sensitively. They patiently let themselves be examined from head to toe and women blackened their faces. They ate, sang and laughed together, played with the children and there were many mutual invitations. There were friendly wrestling matches on the beach; in the evening the French were escorted to their boats and greeted enthusiastically in the morning (Broome 1982: 23; Ryan 1981: 54; Robson 1983: 26).
In addition, they made a number of geographical discoveries. D'Entrecasteaux was the first to realize that Bruni Island, the preferred landing site for the British, is an island. The dividing waterway was named after him. He discovered the mouths of the Huon and Derwent rivers . He sailed up the Derwent and charted Norfolk Bay.
No further landings by Europeans are documented between the two visits to d'Entrecasteaux. Two months after completing his second land exploration, the young, ambitious Englishman John Hayes arrived on the island. His stay in the d'Entrecasteaux channel lasted from April 26 to June 9, 1794 (Plomley 1993: 18). Hayes explored the area thoroughly during this time; ignorant that the French had come to him before. It is completely unclear why Hayes stayed in Tasmania for so long, as he was actually on his way to New Guinea. It was only by chance that he took the detour around the Sahul Shelf due to the weather . Unfortunately, his diary, which could provide information about the precise circumstances of his stay, was lost. The ship with which he sent it to Great Britain was captured by the French (Völger 1972: 29).
Matthew Flinders
At that time, it was still believed that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was the southern reaches of New Holland (Australia). Although the hints and rumors had increased since Cook's suspicions, it was not until October 1798 that an expedition was equipped to finally clarify this question. George Bass and Matthew Flinders were commissioned to circumnavigate Tasmania if possible in order to prove that it was an island.
It was possible and thus the route around the Tasmanian south coast, which is so important for the history of discovery in Tasmania, was recognized as a detour. Bass and Flinders needed almost nine months for the circumnavigation (October 7, 1798 to June 12, 1799) (Robson 1983: 9). In doing so, they discovered and mapped not only the hitherto unknown north coast, but also parts of the little-known west coast (Fig. 9). They mapped the Furneaux Islands and other islands on the Bass Strait . From their unspoiled state they rightly concluded that the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land were ignorant of seafaring in the open sea. There were only brief and superficial contacts with the population that were poorly described.
These contacts also took place on the southeast coast of Tasmania, which Flinders had already got to know as a crew member on Bligh's second voyage (Völger 1971: 30). Flinders was impressed by her open, friendly demeanor and noted the similarity to the population of New South Wales (Ryan 1981: 57f).
Flinders was also the first who later circumnavigated New Holland and suggested the name 'Australia' (Przemyslaw 1990: 7, 98). King Island, which Flinders had overlooked, was charted by Reed that same year. Macquarie Harbor and Port Davey on the west coast were not discovered until 1815 by Kelly and Birch, who also circumnavigated the island (Bryden 1965: 38).
Nicolas Baudin
Ten years after the visit to Labillardière - shortly before Tasmania was colonized from Great Britain or Australia - a second French scientific expedition under the direction of Nicolas Baudin arrived on the island. Its 22-strong scientific crew, with an average age of 27, consisted of three botanists, five zoologists and two gardeners, mineralogists, astronomers, cartographers and artists each (Plomley 1966c: 3). The latter, Petit and Lesuer, made a large number of portraits as well as some drawings depicting everyday scenes, tombs, objects of everyday use and weapons. Especially the work of Petit is mostly praised. Although his portraits were still strongly influenced by the zeitgeist and aesthetic sensibility of the era, they still overshadowed all previous representations (Fig. 44).
The results of this trip were written and edited by a member of the crew, the naturalist, anthropologist and physician (Triebel 1947: 64) François Péron . After Péron's death, the work of Louis de Freycinet was completed. This work is the best ethnographic source we have from the people of Tasmania from the 'pre-European' era. On January 14, 1802, Commander Baudin reached Tasmanian waters. This expedition was also in eastern Tasmania. She explored the Huon River, Oyster Bay and the offshore island of Maria Island to the east. They stayed a total of 43 days. Similar to us before at d'Entrecasteaux, there were numerous cordial encounters in which Péron in particular emerged as an important observer. James Bonwick describes him as a "pleasant sentimentalist who had taken the romantic school of Rousseau deeply" (Bonwick 1870a: 92).
At the mouth of the Huon River they met a 23-year-old Aboriginal. As with previous encounters, this one was most astonished at the skin color of the visitors. Fearlessly he went to them and opened the jackets and shirts of the French; undoubtedly to make sure that the color on the body is the same as on the face. After he finished his body search, he began to scream in excitement and quickly stamp his feet.
They gave a young woman a hatchet, a handkerchief and a red pen. “She screamed, she laughed, she seemed intoxicated with happiness and when we pushed ourselves off the bank, her pain was moving” (Péron after Turnbull 1963: 38f). On February 22nd, they met a group of fourteen men and were immediately cordially invited (Ryan 1981: 63). They ate together and the French sang the Marseillaise to them, which caused great amusement (Péron 1809: 173ff). Péron checked their physical strength using a training device (Regnier Dynameter) and, contrary to his expectations, found that they had far less strength than he or one of his officers, something the Aborigines were sometimes very angry about (Péron 1809: 222, 313f).
Not all meetings were so harmonious and peaceful. During an excursion to Bruni Island, after a friendly encounter, the mood changed for unknown reasons and a sailor was injured on the shoulder by a spear while boarding the boats (Péron 1808: 192; Völger 1971: 32). On another occasion, too, they were pelted with stones and withdrew (Péron 1808: 197; Völger 1971: 32).
The painter Petit aroused aggression at the fourth encounter. He had already made a few drawings, but suddenly this was no longer tolerated. He found it difficult to avoid being hit by a club. At first the French were able to defuse the situation, but when they got into the boats, a hail of stones fell on them again. On Maria Island , after an initial harmony, there were also clashes that caused the French to retreat. It is to the credit of the leaders of this expedition that they refrained from using firearms in these incidents.
Péron was so impressed by the Tasmanian Aborigines that he never avoided effort or danger and tirelessly brought about new encounters. Because of his interest, many details of the culture have been passed down to us. In addition to information about appearance, jewelry, eating habits, social organization and description of the settlements including the inventory, his discovery of the Aboriginal burial sites was of particular importance. His powers of observation were remarkable and his statements are characterized by accuracy, empathy and credibility. However, his assertion that the inhabitants of Tasmania were the most uncivilized in the whole world was grist to the mill of the burgeoning social Darwinism , whose representatives soon set out in search of the link between humans and apes (Ryan 1981: 63).
After this expedition, the crew recovered in Sydney for five months . During this stay, the then Governor King heard a momentous rumor: According to this, one of the French officers had announced that it was France's intention to found a colony in Tasmania. The fact that Tasmania was not part of New Holland gave the island no man's land status at the time .
King was determined to beat the French. In a hasty action, he sent an envoy, Lieutenant Robbins, to officially bring the island into the possession of the British Crown. His task was to catch up with the French who were already on their way home and to make it clear to them in no uncertain terms that Tasmania was already annexed. “To the great amusement of the French, Robbins did his job in a somewhat ridiculous way: no sooner had the little schooner anchored off King Island than he landed with a small group of his people who hurried to the French tents. There they hoisted the English flag, fired a few volleys , shouted hurray three times and declared the island the property of their king ”(Völger 1971: 34).
Baudin, the leader of the French expedition, condemned this measure by the governor. In Sydney he had seen the consequences of colonization for the Aborigines first hand. In a letter to King, he wrote: “It would be infinitely more glorious to sculpt for society the people of the various lands that are under our right than to express a desire to take those so remote by instantly taking possession of the land whom they possess and who gave birth to rob ”(Ryan 1981: 64).
King was unimpressed by the Frenchman's liberal stance and, in order to avoid any risk, soon afterwards founded the first settlement on Tasmanian soil, starting in Sydney. At this point in time, little more than the rough outline of Van Diemensland was known. The exploratory expeditions were also continued on the French side (Plomley 1966c: 4; Marchant 1969: 3). Even in the 1960s, large areas of Tasmania were only inadequately mapped (Bryden 1960: 39).
The records of the explorers of this era are of particular importance as they describe the Tasmanian culture in its pristine form. Nevertheless, it must be taken into account that at that time ethnology was not yet established as a science. The effects of these research trips seem almost insignificant compared to colonial history. And yet the epoch of voyages of discovery had already left its mark on Tasmanian culture. The extent and the nature of these traces remain largely closed to ethnological research - in Tasmania as in other regions of the world. It is easy to imagine that this epoch was not without consequences, especially in the east of the island (Mulvaney and White 1987: 314). We can only speculate about the nature of the consequences.
Later developments in this regard during the colonial period suggest that diseases with epidemic effects were brought in by travelers (see: Plomley 1966c: 3), which on the one hand could have led to deaths and on the other hand to partial immunity of the residents from later infections, as one can she was able to observe them, for example, among the trepang fishermen in Northern Australia (Przemyslaw 1990: 98).
Another aspect, the effects of which one can only guess at, are the innumerable gifts that the seafarers distributed among the 'pre-European' population. The motives for the reactions to such guest gifts, which ranged from total rapture to (pretended?) Indifference to open aggression, also remain unclear. The arrogance of the haves and the envy of the void have possibly created social tension. A connection to diseases cannot be ruled out, especially with gifts in the form of clothing.
Both the sailors and the seal hunters , who have appeared since Cox, had already had sexual contacts (Robson 1983: 27, 29; Turnbull 1963: 35) with the Aborigines, which were often not without consequences. This hybridization of the Tasmanian population, which occurred in pre-colonial times, certainly led to social conflicts.
However, there was no room for such visits in the ' Tasmanians ' worldview , so they had to modify it accordingly. Because of the social structure of the Aborigines in connection with the limited extent of their living space, it is absurd since d'Entrecasteaux 'visit to speak of a' pre-European 'population.
Obviously every landing was registered by the locals as well as the passing ships, some of which stayed in these waters unofficially and ignored by history. One must also assume that they mutually informed each other, possibly over great distances, about such exotic encounters and attempted to interpret them. Even a harmonious meeting would have to give them great uncertainty. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the Aborigines were just as impressed as they were intimidated by the technology of the Europeans - contrary to the claims of the followers of Rousseau.
However, all these external influences of the era of discovery were only a premonition of the following colonial era. See history of Tasmania .