In 1792 Louise Girardin - disguised as a French sailor - was the first white woman to visit Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). She was followed by Martha Hayes who stepped ashore in 1803 among the first women settlers and convicts; she was the pregnant 16 year-old mistress of their leader. But Aboriginal women had already lived on the island for perhaps 40,000 years. The first to be named in exploration literature is Ouray-Ouray; the best known is Trukanini, erroneously called the last Tasmanian when she died in 1876. In the 1970s, Aboriginal rights became a live issue, often with women in the forefront, as they were, too, in environmentalism. This book gathers together these strands, and that of a vibrant women's literature, linking them to place - an island of still unspoilt beauty and unique flora and fauna.
