博客來They were the first to cross the Asian land bridge. Then they were the first to cross the land bridge to Tasmania. There, they stayed isolate for upwards of 6000 years. By the time the colonists started to drop their anchors in the Derwent, they were some 10,000 strong... perhaps as many as 20,000 people.
A shockingly mere 20 years later their number was below any hope of avoiding extinction. Overall, as a distinct race of people they were brutalized out of existence.
They were the pure-blood Tasmanian Aborigines. The last of their number they called Truganinni. The last male they called King Billy. They joked of them being royalty.
After 1876, when Truganinni died, there was no joke left. On her people’s annihilation, a shameful silence strangely descended and has thickened even until today. It is a silence
E that doesn’t seem to need to speak out.
