Truganini...

Truganini by Cassandra Pybus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Truganini, by Cassandra Pybus, represents an intriguing dive into the awkward perils that fractured colonial Tasmania. There is self-made missionary George Robinson trying to connect European and aboriginal cultures. He tries to offer some measure of safety and security to the aboriginal groups scattered round Tasmania who face a European 'round up'. He barely leaves the pages of this historical biography. Names, many names fleetingly buzz around him and by him, but he is always there, soldiering on. Even though Truganini was in Robinson's life for 13 years, sadly, she remains one of those many names. Truganini loved water, loved to swim, loved to fish and was high-spirited. She had a marriage or two. She may be with Robinson at times, helping his mission, but seems distant from him. In short, we get to know Truganini's world, according to Europeans, but we still are far from getting to know Truganini. The blinkered records of the day deny us that longed-for understanding. So, Pybus offers us descriptive, detailed insights into the challenges of colonial days, but hardly turns the spotlight on Truganini. A mistitled book I feel.

View all my reviews

 

I am pleased to report

I am still treading

my own songlines

only those

who really knew me

in my own lifetime

know how

and why

I am

I am Truganini

and always will be