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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Trukanini

1866 (printed 1890s)
Charles Woolley

glass plate negative (sheet: 10.5 cm x 8.2 cm)

Escalating hostilities between settlers and Indigenous people in Van Diemen’s Land in the late 1820s led to the introduction of a policy aimed at the removal of the Aboriginal population to a mission station on Flinders Island in Bass Strait. A free settler named George Augustus Robinson (1788–1866) was appointed to the position of ‘Conciliator of Aborigines’ to bring this policy into effect. Between 1830 and 1834, he conducted a series of expeditions – known as the ‘Friendly Mission’ – during the course of which, aided by guides and interpreters such as Trukanini (c. 1812–1876), he persuaded Aboriginal people into exile. Trukanini and others associated with Robinson consequently became popular subjects for portraits, partly for reasons of celebrity but also because of the white community’s belief in the idea that Tasmania’s Aboriginal people were disappearing. Charles Alfred Woolley (1834–1922) was one of a number of photographers who created portraits of Trukanini in the 1860s, by which time it was held, erroneously, that she was among the ’last’ of her people. Woolley ran a studio on Macquarie Street in Hobart from 1859 to 1870, and is perhaps best known for his series of portraits – of Trukanini, William Lanne, Cooneana, Wapperty and Bessy Clark. Woolley photographed each sitter at three different angles: one face on; one with face averted from the camera; and one in profile, as in this example. Taken in Hobart in August 1866, they were exhibited at the Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne later the same year. The photographs subsequently ended up in anthropological collections overseas, engravings of them appeared in various publications, and they were exhibited by Woolley again in the 1870s.

Some years later, Woolley’s negatives were acquired by John Watt Beattie (1859–1930), a photographer who ran a private museum in Hobart displaying his collection of convict relics and other artefacts relating to Tasmania’s history, environment and people. He was also a collector of photographic prints and negatives which he reprinted for sale as postcards and souvenirs. This photograph is believed to be an example of one of Beattie’s later reprints of the photographs taken by Woolley in 1866.

Purchased 2011

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Charles Woolley (age 32 in 1866)

Trukanini (age 54 in 1866)

Subject professions

Government and leadership

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

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