| Manalakina (Mannalargenna) Pairrebeenne was an Indigenous Australian. Join: Indigenous Australians Project Discuss: INDIGENOUS_AUSTRALIANS |
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Much of the information sourced about Mannalargenna that was written while he was living was recorded by colonists. Over the years, it has been interpreted in many ways.
In contrast, where at all possible, this profile will describe the life of Manalakina using the palawa kani, meaning "Tasmanian Aborigines speak". [1] The dozen or so separate languages spoken in lutruwita were transcribed as word lists by over twenty different colonists, with different linguistic backgrounds. Different spellings and interpretations of the life of Manalakina and his kin have led to some uncertainty about aspects of his story. palawa kani is a reclamation of these languages, including how they sound and their spelling. [1]. On this collaborative profile, preference will be given to sources written or interpreted by Tasmanian Aboriginal Peoples with a continuing connection to land and culture.
Manalakina was a Pairrebeenne man with a connection to country in Tebrikunna, now known as Cape Portland in the North East or Coastal Plains nation of Trouwunna (Tasmania) [2]. His birth date is not known and has been determined based on interactions with colonists. For example, he was apparently estimated to have been 55 years old when he met George Augustus Robinson in November 1830 on the Anson's Plain, inland from the southern end of the Bay of Fires. [2]
He died at Wybalenna Island on 4 Dec 1835 [3], which is an event stilled commemorated annually over 180 years later [4].
Work in progress
His country was Tebrikunna, now known as Cape Portland, in the far northeast of Trouwunna – the name known by eastern tribes for the island of Tasmania - and he was the leader of the Pairrebeenne clan, in the North East nation (or Coastal Plains nation), and a revered warrior. He lived almost half of his life before the arrival of the ‘whitefellas’ and the establishment of their first settlement in 1803, “in a world of uncontaminated cultural traditions”. He had two wives, with two sons and four daughters. [2]
There are some records of Mannalargenna's activities during the fateful period of the 'Black War', a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. [5] This occurred due to the settlers greed for pastoral land, and resulted in the deaths of more than 200 European colonists and between 600 and 900 Aboriginal people, nearly annihilating the island's indigenous population. [6] It would seem that he and his family had been exiled at some stage to the islands offshore from his Country.
His 2nd wife was Taneleboneyer (Sall) (1807-1835), who was with her husband in August 1831 after he had been taken off Gun Carriage Island – between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group – to go with George Augustus Robinson to find any remaining small groups of Aborigines in the northeast bush[7]. They also accompanied Robinson around Tasmania from 1831 to 1835.
It seems that Mannalargenna and Tanleboneyer became man and wife in 1830 when they had been exiled to Swan Island, which is a small island in the Bass Strait close to Cape Portland, and south of the Furneaux Group. At least one of the sons and the four daughters are indicated to be Tanleboneyer’s children[8]. They were Neerhepeererminer, the son, and the four daughters Woretemoeteyenner, Wottecowidyer, Wobbelty (Wobberertee, or Wapperty) and Teekoolterme. However, if the first daughter’s age was anything like the estimated 40 years in 1837 [9], she must surely have been a daughter of his first wife, whose name seems to be unknown‽
"His first wife's name is unknown, but together they had at least five children: a son, Neerhepeererminer and daughters Woretermoeteyenner, Wottecowidyer, Wobbelty and Teekoolterme. His second wife was Tanleboneyer with whom he had no children". [10]
Emerenna, who is also known as Woreterneemmerunnertatteyanne aka Bet Smith, has also been describes as Mannalargenna's daughter [11]
Again, Dolly Dalrymple or Dalrymple Mountgarret, is indicated to have been a daughter of Woretemoeteyenner and George Briggs, a sealer, and born about 1808[12].
Wapperty is also indicated to have been born about 1797 [13] and was abducted in the 1820’s by sealer John Thomas and taken to the Hunter Islands, which lie between King Island and northwest Tasmania in the Bass Strait. She lived on Flinders Island for many years and had a child with a Maori sealer named Myetye. Many Palawa today are descendants of Wapperty, who died in 1867 at Oyster Cove Mission station.
Mannalargenna appears to have been on Big Green Island, a tiny island on the west side of Flinders Island, in October 1835, but died at Wybalenna on 4 December 1835 of empyema pneumonia, one of the many to die there of diseases introduced by colonists [2].
As a final act of insensitivity Robinson buried Mannalargenna's body on the burial ground in a coffin and allowed his enemies to participate in the service. In 1986, 100 unmarked graves of Tasmanian Aboriginals were located at Wybalenna [14].
Suggested use of naming fields based on the research notes above (please click on hyperlinks for definitions):
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Categories: Indigenous Australians, Australia Managed Profiles | Indigenous Australians | Palawa | Tebrikunna, Tasmania | Wybalenna, Flinders Island, Tasmania | Estimated Birth Date