This Woman Was The Last Of Her Kind

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of abuse.

The day she arrived at the decrepit town whites had forced her people to live in, Truganini nearly cried. She was the daughter of a chief! She remembered what her country had been like before. But what could she do?

Her mother had been killed by sailors. Her uncle was shot by a white soldier. Her sister was abducted by sealers. Her fiancé was murdered by timber-cutters, who then raped her! 

But it got worse.

Whites rounded them up like cattle, and in a horrible act of genocide, pushed entire villages off jagged ocean cliffs! Between 1803 and 1830, 7,000-16,000 Palawa Aboriginal Tasmanians were massacred, enslaved, or died from disease due to British colonization. Only a few hundred were left alive.  

Truganini had enough – she wanted justice!

Her chest heaving with sorrow and rage, she picked up her gun, hopped on her horse, and rounded up her people. In a righteous rampage, they rode across the state, shooting and killing white settlers in sweet revenge. Was she ever caught?

Unfortunately, yes. But she was allowed to return home – and became the last survivor of her people.  

While her story is tragic, it’s a reminder that even in the face of hopeless odds, we must fight for justice by any means necessary! What are you doing to fight for justice and against oppression?