| ISBN |
9781761066344 (paperback) |
| Name |
Pybus, Cassandra author. |
| Title |
A very secret trade : the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania / Cassandra Pybus. |
| Published |
Cammeraygal Country ; Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin, 2024. |
| ©2024 |
| Description |
xviii, 318 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour), maps ; 24 cm |
| Notes |
Cultural sensitivity advisory notice: Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this item may contain names, recordings, images, photographs, illustrations and text of deceased people and other content that may be culturally sensitive. |
| Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-314). |
| Summary |
In the nineteenth century, collectors and museum curators in Europe were fascinated by the antipodean colony of Tasmania. They cultivated contacts in the colony who could supply them with exotic specimens, including skeletons of the thylacine and the platypus. But they were not just interested in animals and plants. The belief that the original people of the colony were an utterly unique race and facing possible extinction had the European scientific community scrambling for human exhibits. Many eminent colonial figures were involved in this clandestine trade, among them four colonial governors, several key politicians and even Lady Jane Franklin. In Britain, Sir Joseph Banks, the Duke of Newcastle and Professor Thomas Huxley were among many eminent men who solicited human specimens from the colony. Worse still, the men responsible for the care and protection of the few original people who had survived the ravages of disease and the infamous Black Wars were prominent in the trade. Cassandra Pybus has uncovered one of the darkest and most carefully hidden secrets in Australia's colonial history. It is time we all knew the truth. |
| Subjects |
Aboriginal Tasmanians -- History |
| Aboriginal Tasmanians -- Crimes against -- History |
| Colonists -- Tasmania -- History -- 1803-1851 |
| Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of -- History -- 19th century |
| Body snatching -- Tasmania |
| Museum exhibits -- Europe |
| Exhumation -- Tasmania |
| Human remains (Archaeology) |
| Tasmania -- History -- 1803-1900 |
| Genre |
First Nations |
| Links to Related Works |
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