Born about in Lunawanna-alonnah
Daughter of Mangerner (Mangana) Lyluequonny
and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of
William Lanne
— married
[date unknown] [location unknown]
Wife of
Woureddy Nuenonne
— married
[date unknown] [location unknown]
[children unknown]
Died
at about age 64
in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Profile last modified
| Created 31 Jan 2018
This page has been accessed 6,469 times.
| Trugernanner (Truganini) Nuenonne was an Indigenous Australian. Join: Indigenous Australians Project Discuss: INDIGENOUS_AUSTRALIANS |
The Birth Date is a rough estimate. See the text for details.
Biography
Trugernanner is said to have been born on an island known as Lunawanna-Alonnah, the land of the Nueonne people. [1] Her precise birth date is unknown. Many sources suggest she was born circa. 1812 based on an estimate recorded by George Augustus Robinson in 1829 [1], however, a newspaper article published at the time of her death, suggests she may have been born as early as 1803 [2]
The spelling of her name is not certain. It has been commonly recorded as Truganini [3] as well as other versions, including Trucaminni [2] Truganini is said to mean the grey saltbush Atriplex cinerea. She was also known by the nickname Lalla(h) Rookh [2], a moniker imposed on her in 1835 by George Augustus Robinson. It is said to be a word meaning the last survivor of her clan in Nuenonne.
Her father Mangerner was from the Lyluequonny clan
Her mother, likely to have been Nuenonne and was murdered by sealers in 1816 [1]
Two years later, her two sisters, Lowhenunhe and Maggerleede were abducted by sealers and taken to Kangaroo Island, while her uncle and would husband, Paraweena, were shot [3]
In March 1829, Trugernanner and her father met George Augustus Robinson, a builder and untrained preacher on Bruny Island, who established a mission there as his first job.
It was here she 'married' Wooreddy.
However, the 'Black Wars (1824-1831) [4]] has resulted in the deaths of many First Nations People in Van Diemen's Land and George Robinson was appointed as Protector of Aborigines. He was assigned to locate the remaining First Nations people and relocate them to a nearby island for their 'protection.
Truganini and Wooreddy (Wooraddy) accompanied Robinson on his mission between 1830 and 1835, ending up at a settlement established for the purpose of converting them the Christianity and training them as farmers at a place called Wybalenna. This turned out to be a death camp for the Aboriginal people with all Robinson's promises broken. In February 1839, with Woorraddy and fourteen others, including Peter and David Brune were moved to Port Phillip in Victoria, where Robertson had now become Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District in 1839, until1849 [5].
In July Truganini and two other women, Fanny and Matilda were sent back to Flinders Island with Woorraddy who died en route. Peter Brune (Bruny) had died in Port Phillip in 1843, but David returned to Van Diemen's Land[6]. She lived there until October 1847 when, with forty-six others, she moved to another establishment at Oyster Cove[7], a former convict prison, abandoned as being considered unfit for convicts, in her traditional territory, where she resumed her traditional life-style ways - hunting and fishing, etc.
However, conditions were even worse there than at Wybaleena and an article in the Times titled the 'Decay of race' written in 1861 described how there were only 14 surviving Aboriginal adults with no children.
In 1874 she moved to Hobart Town with her guardians, the Dandridge family, and died in Mrs Dandridge's house in Macquarie Street.
Truganini died in 1876 wanting her ashes scattered in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Instead, she was buried at the former Female Factory at Cascades, a suburb of Hobart. The Royal Society of Tasmania exhumed her skeleton two years later and it was placed on display. [3] [2]
Truganini had tried to help save her people through Robinson's Flinders Island scheme but he was never able to build the houses he had promised, provide the necessary food and blankets, or allow them to return from time to time to their 'country'.
At least Oyster Cove was in Truganini's tribal territory on the main island of Tasmania opposite North Bruny. Truganini was a defiant, strong and enduring individual even to her last breath. She is a symbol of the survival of the Tasmanian Aboriginals and her life epitomises the story of European invasion.
In April 1976, when her remains were finally cremated and scattered in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel.
Truganini is seated at the far right of this photo
Letter to the Editor The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Tue 6 Jun 1876 Page 3
TO THE EDITOR OF THE MERCURY.
SIR,- At this time, when the memory of poor old Trucanini has not yet faded away, it has occurred to me to send you the following letter, which I hope you will publish ad literatim for fear of reducing or affecting either its interest or its simplicity. My friend is still alive and hearty, but out of a kind of false delicacy, he will not permit me to name his address, but nevertheless, I make bold to take this liberty with his letter : " January 20th, 1873.
" To J. W. Graves, Esq., Hobart Town.
Sir,- On the 10th or thereabout of January 1830, I first saw Trugannna. We took her, also her husband, and two of his boys by a former wife, and two other women, the remains of the tribe of Bruni Island, when I went with Mr Robinson round the island. At that time, I think, she was about l8 years of age; her father was chief of Bruni Island, name Mangana. She had an uncle (I don't know his native name), the white people called him Boomer. He was shot by a Soldier. I will now give you some of her own account of what she knew :
We was camped close to Partridge Island when I was a little girl when a vessel came to anchor without our knowing of it. A boat came on shore, and some of the men attacked our camp. We all ran away, but one of them caught my mother and stabbed her with a knife and killed her. My father grieved much about her death and used to make a fire at night by himself when my mother would come to him. I had a sister named Moorina. She was taken away by a sealing boat. I used to go to Birch's Bay. There was a party of men cutting timber for the Government there; the overseer was Mr Munro. While I was there two young men of my tribe came for me; one of them was to have been my husband; his name was Paraweena. Well, two of the sawyers said they would take us in a boat to Bruni Island, which we agreed to. When we got about halfway across the channel they murdered the two natives and threw them overboard. I tried to jump overboard, but one of them held me. Their names were Watkin Lowe and Paddy Newel.'
"This was the account she gave me. Many times her sister was in the Straits living with a man; they called him Abbysinia Jack. She was accidentally shot by a sealer named Robert Gamble. I will try to see the old woman, and get the names of the different places. I can also give you some of my own experiences with the natives, with what I have seen and heard. I remain, yours respectfully, etc,"
It will be observed that the writer spells the name "Trugaanna." This is singular since I knew her myself for many years, but as no other than Trucanini. Indeed when dining at my house only a few months before she died, I importuned her so much about the proper pronunciation of her name that she, at last, grew impatient, rolled and flashed her eye, and called me, right out, a fool. I dare say she was not far wrong in her estimate, but she had already replied half a dozen times, distinctly, "Trucanini."
You will notice too, that the place we call "Manganna " should be pronounced with but one "n," and more softly-"Mangäuä," for, evidently, this township was named after the Bruni chieftain. Then again, what euphonious names are those of Trucanini's sister and her lover - Moorina, and Paraweena! I wonder who the first mothers will be who have the taste to name their babes so prettily.
Yours obediently. J. W. GRAVES. June 4th, 1876.
Research Notes
-
[Traditionally Aborigines usually only had one name but Wikitree will not accept that so her Tribal name has been used in the Proper First Name box].- There is no evidence to suggest that this is the case. It has been moved in the research notes, to aid further discussion. Please refer to this link to discuss. - Ideally, aligned with the draft naming guidelines that have been put our for comment, the LNAB field will be changed to Nuenonne.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pybus, C (2020, Feb 21) The tragedy of Truganini Weekend Australian Magazine
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Bury and Norwich Post - Tuesday 11 July 1876 Trucaminni, or Lalla Kookh, the last Tasmanian aboriginal, has died of paralysis, aged 73. She was Queen Consort to King Billy who died in March 1871 and had been under the care of Mrs Dandridge, who was allowed £80 annually by the Government for maintenance. Sooth Australia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ryan, L. & Smith, N., (1976) Trugernanner (Truganini) (1812–1876), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed online 26 November 2020.
- ↑ https://www.flinders.tas.gov.au/aboriginal-history
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Augustus_Robinson
- ↑ https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/tunnerminnerwait-and-maulboyheenner.pdf
- ↑ https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/O/Oyster%20Cove.htm
- Wikipedia - Truganini
- Wikipedia - Aboriginal Tasmania
- Australian Museum- Truganini is probably the best known Tasmanian Aboriginal women of the colonial era.*Bruny Island Ferry Truganini A Life
- Tasmania Attractions - Truganini, a significant person in Aboriginal history
- https://web.archive.org/web/20160612170929/http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2015/03/06/20-inspiring-black-women-who-have-changed-australia
- https://gw.geneanet.org/alisontassie?lang=en&n=x&oc=194836&p=truganini+lallah+rookh+nuenonne - this unverified family tree lists some possible relations of Truganini
- The Age (2002, May 29) Remains of Truganini coming home after 130 years
- http://static.tmag.tas.gov.au/tayenebe/exchange/index.html
- https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/O/Oyster%20Cove.htm
- https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/journey-through-the-apocalypse-ria-warrah-wooredy-truganini/
- The Mercury, Hobart, Tasmania. 10 Jan 1868, page 2, column 7. The Duke of Edinburgh in Tasmania. (Trove, National Library of Australia, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?type=newspapers : accessed 26 Nov 2020)
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com
DNA
No known carriers of Trugernanner's ancestors' DNA have taken a DNA test. Have you taken a test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
No known carriers of Trugernanner's ancestors' DNA have taken a DNA test. Have you taken a test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Images: 6
T > Truganini | N > Nuenonne > Trugernanner (Truganini) Nuenonne
Categories: Australia, Profile Improvement - Indigenous | Wybalenna, Flinders Island, Tasmania | Indigenous Australians, Australia Managed Profiles | Palawa | South East Nation | Nuenonne | Bruny Island, Tasmania | Hobart, Tasmania | Estimated Birth Date
I created a profile for Truganini's 'husband' and I have started work on some other connections. Could someone with the right privileges, please connect this profile
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nuenonne-1
Further to my comment: https://www.theage.com.au/national/remains-of-truganini-coming-home-after-130-years-20020529-gdu8yv.html
edited by Nan Hewitt
Thanks Anne Co-ordinator, Indigenous Australians Project