Congratulations Professor Anya Reading!
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.
The Tasmanian seaman, Tasman Spaulding, served on the steam-powered wooden barque SY Terra Nova on her 1903-04 voyage to Antarctica.
Throughout his life he was beset by official incompetence. The records of his birth, death and marriage all contain mistakes, and a clerical error in 1904 that reversed his first and last names meant he could not be traced. Consequently he never received the bronze Polar Medal awarded for his service as an Able Seaman on the Terra Nova in 1903-04. The medal entitlement of three other crew members Robert Christie, Alexander McNeill and John M. D. Strachan – is challenged.
Royal Society of Tasmania, RST, Van Diemens Land, natural history, science, ecology, taxonomy, botany, zoology, geology, geography, papers & proceedings, Australia, UTAS Library
Published Papers
The Royal Society of Tasmania acknowledges, with deep respect, the traditional owners of this land, and the ongoing custodianship of the Aboriginal people of Tasmania. The Society pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that Tasmanian Aboriginal Peoples have survived severe and unjust impacts resulting from invasion and dispossession of their Country. As an institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, the Royal Society of Tasmania recognises Aboriginal cultural knowledge and practices and seeks to respect and honour these traditions and the deep understanding they represent.
On 15 February 2021, the Royal Society of Tasmania offered a formal Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
