Tongerlongeter by Henry Reynolds and Nicholas Clements

Nicholas Clements has collected together the historical record of the life of Tongerlongeter, heroic warrior and chief of the Oyster Bay people at the time of the Black War in Tasmania. It is a story of bravery and endurance, at the time of the most intensely violent confrontation in Australia's frontier history, culminating with the Black Line, a military operation aimed at controlling or eliminating the Aboriginal people.

The authors argue that Tongerlongeter was a courageous leader who deserves to be recognised and honoured in our history books. Yet few would have heard of him, despite the prolonged war that was waged, with Tongerlongeter’s group developing more complex strategies on the battlefield as they gradually came to exploit their enemy’s weaknesses. They fought until the last remaining of them, just 26 people, accepted transfer to Flinders Island.

Recognised by contemporaries as 'never … subdued, therefore they are not rebellious subjects, but an injured nation, defending in their own way, their rightful possessions which have been torn from them by force,' it is time that all Australians acknowledged this violent past, and for First Nations lives to be recognised and honoured in our shared history.

Tongerlongeter deserves a place in our memorials, our history books, our story books and films, along with other heroic Aboriginal warriors of the resistance, Pemulwuy, Jandamarra and Yagan.

Themes: Non-fiction, Aboriginal hero, Aboriginal resistance, Black War, Frontier violence, Tasmania.

Helen Eddy