Join historians Prof. Henry Reynolds and Dr Nicholas Clements in conversation with commemoration advocates Rissah Vox and Wendall Graham Pitchford discussing the life of Tongerlongeter and the battle to memorialise this great leader and the other heroes and victims of Tasmania’s ‘Black War’. Henry and Nicholas have recently released Tongerlongeter: First Nations Leader and Tasmanian War Hero in an effort to resurrect from obscurity the man they consider the greatest resistance fighter in Australia’s history. It’s a story that raises yet again the question that advocates such as Rissah and Auntie Wendal have long been demanding we ask – why is the war fought “on this country for this country” not commemorated as seriously as the overseas wars Tasmanians have fought in? Why are their victims and heroes unknown to almost everyone?
Professor Henry Reynolds (The Other Side of the Frontier: Aboriginal Resistance to the European Invasion of Australia, Why Weren’t We Told? and much, much more, including, most recently, Unnecessary Wars).
Dr Nick Clements is the author of The Black War: Fear, Sex and Resistance in Tasmania.
DON’T MISS THIS: You can also hear Professor Reynolds at another session, Rebellious Facts and Comforting Fictions, with Drs Jeanette Thompson, Ian Broinowski and Katherine Johnson.