Governor Davey's Proclamation

A pictorial proclamation issued by the colonial authorities in Van Diemen's Land espousing equality and peaceful relations between Aboriginal Tasmanians and white settlers[1]

Governor Davey's Proclamation is a misnomer for an illustrated proclamation issued in Van Diemen's Land by the British colonial authorities after 1 November 1828. Although occasionally attributed to Governor Thomas Davey, it was first authorised by Lieutenant Governor George Arthur.[2] Several illustrated narrative versions of the proclamation were created over time.[3] Many of these four-strip pictograms[4] were originally painted onto Huon pine boards using oil paints.[5] Of approximately 100 proclamation boards produced there are seven known to survive in public collections.[6]

The proclamation was intended to explain martial law during the period in Tasmanian history referred to as the Black War.[7]

  1. ^ "Governor Davey's (sic) Proclamation to the Aborigines, 1816 (sic)". State Library of NSW. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
  2. ^ Arthur, George. "A Proclamation". Sir George Arthur papers regarding Aborigines 1821–1837. State Library NSW. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Governor Davey's Proclamation". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. ^ Franks, Rachel (2015). "A True Crime Tale: Re-imagining Governor Arthur's Proclamation to the Aborigines". M/C Journal of Media and Culture. 18 (6). Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  5. ^ Morris, John (August 1988), "Notes on A Message to the Tasmanian Aborigines in 1829: popularly called "Governor Davey's Proclamation to the Aborigines, 1816"", Australiana, 10 (3): 84–87, retrieved 8 July 2013
  6. ^ Gall, Jennifer (2011). Library of Dreams: Treasures from the National Library of Australia. Canberra: National Library of Australia. p. 58. ISBN 9780642277022.
  7. ^ Manderson, Desmond (2012). "The Law of the Image and the Image of the Law: Colonial representations of the rule of law" (PDF). New York Law School Law Review. 57: 154. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2013.