I can't believe I didn't take notice of this a week ago! This is the cover to "The Last of the Tasmanians", which has provided A LOT of good information about colonization, persecution, and unilineal attitudes. I just noticed WHAT is being depicted on the cover.
Could this cover in fact be a direct representation of how the British saw the Tasmanian? In the bottom we see them killing the "savages", then the retaliation (likely a depiction of The Black War), but then in the next panel we see them making peace with the British, followed by Tasmanians dressed in civilized clothing.
So it's depicting the British meeting the Tasmanians and then killing them? I think it's slightly ambiguous but could be useful with a good text caption near it. I like your idea.
ReplyDeleteDid any of you guys look at the list of books on the accession inventory? I'm pretty sure there were several books about Tasmania (now gone), but still helpful in understanding who the Beardsleys were.
ReplyDeleteI like the image. I just don't know where we would incorporate it. Take a look at my updated sketch and let me know if you want to rotate or not include something and include this instead. We can also rescale some of the images but I got the sizes for the images down fairly well I believe.
ReplyDeleteIt can obviously be retouched!
Hi guys! Ignore me if you found this out already, but I'm compulsively curious so I used the handy Google image search plugin to do a reverse search on this intriguing and unsettling image. It's apparently a woodcutting of the "Pictorial Proclamation to the Aborigines" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_Davey's_Proclamation
ReplyDeleteYou'd think I would have found that considering it's on wikipedia!
ReplyDeleteI have a lengthy bit of text talking about the Black War and George Arthur, so knowing the context for this image is excellent.
Thank you, Seya!
I'm trying to reach your team in as many ways possible - just an FYI that the museum is closed today, so I can't hold office hours. Dr. Castaneda will be in from 1-2, please email her ASAP if you plan on being there.
ReplyDelete