Friendly Mission: The Tasmanian Journals and Papers of George Augustus Robinson.

Estimating early contact‐era populations for lutruwita (Tasmania)

“…Nine such groupings are thought to have existed (see Figure 1). Plomley (2008Plomley ( , pp. 1003Plomley ( -1013 attempted to enumerate the number of bands (which he confusingly referred to as tribes) in order to derive estimates for both regional populations and for Tasmania as a whole.…”

“…324-327;Plomley, 1991, p. 69;Plomley, 1992, pp. 3-38;Plomley, 2008Plomley, , pp. 1003Plomley, -1013Radcliffe-Brown, 1930;Reynolds, 1995;Ryan, 2012a, p. 14;Walker, 1902;Windschuttle, 2003. Existing carrying capacity estimates are available for four Tasmania regions, the areas traditionally thought to have been occupied by the South-West, Big River, Oyster Bay and North-West peoples (see Table 1).…”

“…He was told by the palawa travelling with him that plenty of natives in the area had succumbed to disease. He concluded that ‘the mortality with which the Brune (sic) natives had been attacked, appears to have been general among the tribes of aborigines’ (Plomley, 2008, p. 143). A year later Robinson reported ‘that the numerous tribes of aborigines once inhabiting that extensive country to the westward of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and the Huon River were now extinct’ (Plomley, 2008, p. 260, n. 7).…”

“…While sometimes described as leprosy, this contagious skin complaint was more likely to have been scabies, a disorder routinely diagnosed on convict vessels. Passed from European to palawa populations and vice versa (Robinson was severely infected by an Indigenous man who crept into his tent to sleep one night), palawa Tasmanians appear to have been particularly susceptible (Plomley, 2008, pp. 170–1 and 184 and Roberts‐Thompson, 2014, p. 133).…”

“…324–327; Plomley, 1991, p. 69; Plomley, 1992, pp. 3–38; Plomley, 2008, pp. 1003–1013; Radcliffe‐Brown, 1930; Reynolds, 1995; Ryan, 2012a, p. 14; Walker, 1902; Windschuttle, 2003 .…”