From the collection, Jane, Lady Franklin
I.
I have written to Bock, requesting
a set of portraits - nine in all -
like the ones he did for Robinson;
I want a record on my wall.
They will live on in my boudoir,
their eyes looking out over mine,
breathing through the open window,
searching the river for a sign
of the spirit of their homelands -
a scent or a whisper or sound
that carries them swiftly, returning
to grass, hill, water, open ground.
I want to offer another chance
at life; this dishonest, tragic dance.
II.
Robinson - now there's a name imbued with myth,
years from now, will the people of Hobarton
recall the man with fascination, wish
him never born, or with gratitude, hard-won?
We'd heard of him, of course, who has not -
the great Protector, the befriender,
the married man who threw in his lot
with the Aborigines; their betrayer.
Soon we go to the island and meet the man
ourselves. How the stories trickle in
of a people hungry for their homeland -
what visions do their eyes spin
as they stare across the water, blue as truth;
as far and final as the hangman's noose.
III.
In Dutterau's painting, 'The Conciliation',
Robinson strikes an odd, unexpected figure
in his white pants, black jacket and baker's hat;
he's the very epicentre of the picture.
He shines like a lamp to the Aborigines
who move toward him, parting the grass without sound,
lured by this stranger with his beacon-like brilliance
drawn from the distant water and the hill behind.
Trugernanna points towards him, pulling them in,
she is leaping forward like a dancer, eager,
and Robinson gestures skywards, holding the hand
in a fatherly grip, of the tribe's leader.
Did he see what he was doing, courting such fame?
A burning candle: their moths to his flame.
IV.
He travelled with Trugernanna
she took his hand
led him across swamp
heath headland.
They shared oyster flesh
the warmth of a fire
watched the flash of stars
across the darkening sky.
They left their prints
on beach and plain
the trees caught their voices
the land imbibed their names.
She translated, she intervened;
what did they whisper separately, to the wind? Originally published in Southerly, v.61 n.3, 2001. Notes:
Jane, Lady Franklin, wife of Sir John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1837 to 1843, speaks these poems. She commissioned Thomas Bock, the convict painter, to produce a set of portraits of the remaining Tasmanian Aborigines. Apparently George Augustus Robinson first commissioned fourteen portraits for a book he was writing about the Aborigines. Subsequently, several sets were made, although not all contained the original fourteen. Dutterau's painting was completed in 1840. Trugernanna's role in the 'Friendly Mission' has been much debated. Some historians have concluded that she and Robinson were lovers and that she was in thrall to him. Henry Reynolds suggests that Trugernanna and other Aboriginal women such as Dray were highly political, and could see that the only hope for their people was in negotiation rather than warfare. Hence, their journeys with, and support of, Robinson. The four sonnets here explore George Augustus Robinson's role in the rounding up of the Tasmanian Aborigines as part of his 'Friendly Mission' which began under Governor Arthur. Robinson travelled to many remote areas in Tasmania accompanied by a number of Aborigines, meeting with Aboriginal tribes and persuading them to leave their lands for a settlement in the Bass Strait. The Franklins met Robinson at Wybalena, the settlement on Flinders Island, in 1838, shortly before he left for New South Wales and his new job as Chief Protector of the Aborigines. Jane was an unconventional Governor's wife, passionately interested in science, the natural world, as well as the arts and literature. She was extremely well read and had travelled extensively before her arrival in Tasmania. She continued to travel to remote areas in Tasmania and went on long, arduous journeys on the mainland of Australia. Jane was one of the first European women to climb Mt. Wellington, and established Tasmania's first museum in what is now the Hobart suburb, Lenah Valley. She helped to found the first Royal Society outside of Britain – the Royal Society of Tasmania, whose archives in the University of Tasmania library are rich with the history of these times. |
