1828 Proclamation of Demarcation
The 1828 Proclamation of Demarcation was issued by
Tasmanian Aboriginal populations be temporarily separated from each other.[1] Arthur clarified that the proclamation would not limit Aboriginals from traveling through Tasmania to shellfish hunting territories, provided a passport was coordinated with their leaders.[2] The proclamation was justified as protecting Aboriginals from violence from colonists, and to protect the colonists from "repeated and wanton barbarous murders and other crimes" by the Aboriginals.[3]
The proclamation established a line of military outposts separating the declared Aboriginal and colonial territories, which the Aboriginals were forbidden to pass.[3] Tasmanian Aboriginals were pressed into remote areas of Tasmania, and eventually relocated to Flinders Island; scholar Rod Edmond notes that the pretext of "protecting" the Aboriginals served as a mechanism to clear desirable land for colonial use.[4]
References
- ^ James Bonwick (1870). The last of the Tasmanians: or, The Black War of Van Diemen's Land. Johnson Reprint Corp. pp. 78–.
- ISBN 978-1-4094-5596-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-52296-0.
- ISBN 978-1-139-46287-7.