Mannalargenna was the leader of the Pairrebeenne/Trawlwoolway clan of the Coastal Plains Nations at Tebrakunna (north-east Tasmania). Mannalargenna Day honours him for his contribution to the survival of Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples and cultures.
From 1831 to 1835, Mannalargenna worked with British colonial officers, attempting to resolve the conflict between their peoples in a diplomatic way. Ultimately 200 Aboriginal survivors of the war were removed to Flinders Island. Mannalargenna had been falsely promised they would one day be able to return.
All but 47 of them died, including Mannalargenna, who died of pneumonia after he, too, was exiled. Before he died, Mannalargenna had negotiated unions for his sister and four daughters with British seamen. Many Aboriginal Tasmanian people trace their lineage through these unions.
Professor Greg Lehman is one of these descendants and explains the importance of Mannalargenna’s story today: ‘He represented the strength and resolve of Aboriginal people to defend their country against invasion.
‘At the same time, he also represents a willingness to try and negotiate a diplomatic solution. He stands for resistance and cultural strength, but also a pragmatic desire to try and work out a way to live together. I think that resonates right through to today, 200 years later, with the ongoing need for reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.’
Celebrating a hero
Mannalargenna Day is celebrated every year at Little Musselroe Bay on the first Saturday of December. The bay was the final sight of their country by Mannalargenna and other Aboriginal Tasmanians as they departed the coast for Flinders Island.
The seeds of the festival were planted in 2008 when, descendant of Mannalargenna, Elder Dr Patsy Camerson AO, gathered a group of six Aboriginal Tasmanians of north-eastern ancestry and registered the Melythina Tiakana Warana (Heart of Country) Aboriginal Corporation (MTWAC).
The MTWAC wanted to create a safe and inclusive space for reconnection to country and culture after a difficult history of dislocation and removal and challenges around contested identity.
The first Mannalargenna Day was held in 2015 with about 60 participants, most of whom were MTWAC members and family. It quickly grew to several hundred because the MTWAC made a conscious decision to make the day as inclusive as possible. This was so that the broader community could learn too.
Country, Culture and community
From the very first gathering, interested visitors were welcomed to participate fully in all aspects of the day and return year after year to advance their learning journey. ‘We allow people to wear our ochre. It’s about tangibly having part of Country on you and understanding that. They see our dance, they see our smoking ceremony.
‘They get so much out of it each year that they want to come back and connect again… we invite people to continue their learning. So we want people to feel like they can, outside of Mannalargenna Day, come and walk with the landscape and continue to connect with it as well’, says organiser Jo Cameron.
Entry is free and the events of the day include cultural performances, food, walks, tours, storytelling, artistic and language workshops and a formal lecture. There are men’s circles, women’s circles and circles for the gender diverse.
Participants are encouraged to ask questions and to engage in conversation. It is about learning through the sharing of information but also through the direct experience of culture and of being on Country.
The day is a generous offering of Aboriginal experiences inviting non-Aboriginal people to see the area and history through an Aboriginal lens.
We allow people to wear our ochre. It's about tangibly having a part of Country on you and understanding that.
Mannalargenna at large
Organisers have also sought to increase the profile and educational reach of the annual celebration by actively inviting people of status in the broader community, such as the Governor of Tasmania.
As the festival has grown, so too has its base of financial and logistical supporters. The MTWAC commitment to a culture of inclusiveness extends to its sources of support. This now includes a broad range of individuals and local businesses, as well as local and state government officials.
A major natural resource management company in Tasmania provides volunteers, while local sponsors provide important resources in terms of food and logistics. This broad base of collaboration has also increased the number of attendees.
As with any public truth-telling activity, aspects of it are inherently confronting, and there can also be differing views on how it should be done.
‘Inevitably there is some risk involved in participating in a process of truth-telling, which needs to be managed by effective Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leadership’, explains Greg.
The organisers emphasise that how truth-telling is done can affect how it is able to be received.
Jo discusses the event’s impact as a truth-telling space: ‘Truth-telling includes discomfort, of course, and it’s really easy to kind of point the finger… my feeling is that when you learn, you need to feel safe and you need to feel like you can open your mind. You want to do that in a way that invites people to want to keep learning and keep connecting. I think that’s one of the key factors of Mannalargenna Day.’
She adds that the key to recovering the history and strength of Tasmanian Aboriginal people is to move away from deficit and disempowerment. ‘What’s been missing is that real focus on the strength of our culture and survival,’ she says.
‘It’s not about forgetting, it’s not about saying that the traumatic experiences [didn’t occur]. It’s about shifting the discourse.
This account of truth-telling in action is based on a case study from the Recognising community truth-telling: An exploration of local truth-telling in Australia report. The collaborative study between Reconciliation Australia and Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation documents 25 community truth-telling projects. Read the full report.
