History of Hobart - Prehistory

Prehistory

The prehistory of the Hobart region is poorly understood. At the time of settlement by the British, it is estimated that approximately 1000 to 5000 people lived in Tasmania, divided into eight tribal groups. It was the semi-nomadic Mouheneener tribe, a sub-group of the Nuennone, or 'South-East' tribe, who were first affected by European settlement, as Hobart Town was founded in their traditional hunting grounds.

The Nuenonne had no permanent settlements at Sullivans Cove, or anywhere else in Tasmania, living as nomadic hunter-gatherers. Early Europeans described the Nuenonne as living in crude bark huts established around a fire at movable camping grounds as they travelled about their region.

The French described them as a friendly peaceful people who lived a happy, simple life. The best description of them came from Captain James Cook RN, on his visit to the Derwent River in 1777. Cook described the Nuenonne as:

During the first visits to Tasmania by European explorers, the Nuenonne, normally in parties of about eight men, were often very welcoming, greeting explorers from the shore with friendly shouts and exchanging food and water for trinkets. At first they thought the Europeans were spirits who arrived on the backs of great birds, believing the European ship's sails looked like Seagull wings. However tension grew quickly amongst the Nuenonne as they realised the British detachment was intending to stay.

By the 1820s, the expansion of European settlements throughout the island, and massive growth in pastoralism came at the expense of the Aborigines, who began to resist the intruders. Clashes became more frequent, and tit-for-tat killings became common. Although exact numbers for the death toll were not recorded, estimates vary between 5–9,000. Towards the end of the 1820s the conflict had become so bad that martial law was declared, and the conflict soon grew into the Black War.

By 1831, there were only 200 natives left. Governor George Arthur's attempts to capture and resettle them failed with his disastrous "Black Line" policy. George Augustus Robinson's efforts to resettle them at Flinders Island resulted in the extermination of all the full-blooded native peoples by introduced European diseases such as smallpox, influenza and pneumonia. By 1847 there were only 44 native Tasmanians left, and the last full-blooded Aborigine, Trugannini, died in 1876. Today their race primarily survives in mixed blood descendants of the women enslaved by Bass Strait whalers and sealers.

The expansion and urbanisation of Hobart has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of prior indigenous occupation, although Aboriginal middens are often still present in coastal areas. As a result it is difficult for archaeologists and anthropologists to gain a full understanding of the way of life of the Tasmanian Aborigines prior to European settlement.