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RST Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people 2021.

Clive Lord Memorial Lecture: Teresa Hamilton in Tasmania: first-wave feminism in action

Papers & Reports

Summary

Teresa Hamilton arrived in Tasmania in March 1887, when her husband, Sir Robert Hamilton, became Governor. She undertook the social activities expected of the governor’s wife with panache but, being a forceful lady, she was imbued with new ideas of the activities suitable for women, such as were becoming popular in Britain. She arranged, sometimes even delivering herself, lectures on health, diet, sanitation, first aid, nursing and hygiene, open to women of all classes. She formed the Nursing Band which later became the District Nursing Association and involved herself in a women’s refuge home, education for girls, sanitary reform and temperance activity. Other interests were women’s sport, art and the still-existing Hamilton Literary Society. In two areas she encouraged women to influence public opinion and try to change laws. Teresa Hamilton left Tasmania with its structure much as it had been before her arrival, but with women of all classes shown how to play a more active role in that structure.

 

Keywords:

Royal Society of Tasmania, RST, Van Diemens Land, natural history, science, ecology, taxonomy, botany, zoology, geology, geography, papers & proceedings, Australia, UTAS Library

Acknowledgement of Country

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.

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On 15 February 2021, the Royal Society of Tasmania offered a formal Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.