Recognising Tunnerminnerwaite and Maulboyheener

On January 20, the Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group with the support of eight Victorian State Government entities held a Memorial Service to commemorate the lives of two Aboriginals, Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner.

These two men were captured near Harmers Haven where they had killed two non -combatant sealers possibly over the “theft” of Aboriginal women. Reluctantly, the Chief Judge applied English Law to condemn the men to be hung. 

While recognising the tragedy of the event, after reading some background information regarding these two men, I believe it is interesting to claim they were freedom fighters in a Frontier War. Ironically, there were frontier wars between tribes when displaced Aboriginals sought refuge within another Tribes’ boundary uninvited. Since Tunnerminnerwaite and Maulboyheener were originally from Tasmania, I wonder if they understood the dialect of the mainland Aborigines and if they were made welcome by the Bunurong Tribe.

The memorial service was also designed to engage in truth telling. The address given prior to the Smoking Ceremony invited women and children to come before the men to inhale the smoke, as the society they were accepting a welcome from was matriarchal. When I queried this with an Elder after the Ceremony, they agreed it was not universal, but claimed it was true of the Bunurong Tribe.

Information given regarding the deaths of the two sealers and the preferential sentences given to white men who had killed Aborigines was short on what could have been relevant detail. 
 

Rosemary Hutchinson, Inverloch