Telling Places in Country (TPIC)

About the Project

Project Summary

Telling Places in Country is a Tasmanian Aboriginal history project funded by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and conducted between 2007 - 2009 by Dr Linn Miller, School of Philosophy, University of Tasmania (project management) alongside Patsy Cameron, Aboriginal historian and Elder (research management). Telling Places in Country is a community engaged Aboriginal research initiative.

Using N.J.B. Plomley (ed), Friendly Mission, the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson (1966) as its primary source Telling Places in Country retraced, remapped and reinterpreted selected 'Friendly Mission' journeylines through northeast Tasmania. This involved forensic textual analysis as well as a significant action research component. Fieldwork expeditions followed Robinson's party on selected 1830-31 journeylines on parallel dates in 2007-09. These expeditions traversed the ancestral homelands of the Poorrermairrener, Pairrebeenne, Lemoonnerlanner, Pinterrairer, Pyemmairrenerpairrener, Panpekanner and Leenethmairrener clans- a geographical area of approx 800 square kilometres on the northeast coast of Tasmania.