Outrage as UN refuses to change document claiming Tasmanian Aborigines are ‘extinct’

The UN wording has sparked rebukes from the Federal and Tasmanian governments and stoked Indigenous outrage.

Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chair Michael Mansell wants the original inscription altered to atone for the insult and correct the public record. Picture: Peter Mathew

The UN is refusing to change a key document that claims Tasmania’s Aborigines are “extinct”, sparking a rebuke from the Australian and Tasmanian governments and outrage from Indigenous leaders.

A key founding document for Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area outlining the justification for listing the 1.5 million-hectare region, penned in 1982, states “the Tasmanians are now an extinct race of humans”.

After recent complaints, state Minister for Parks and Aboriginal Affairs Roger Jaensch raised the issue with ­UNESCO, and the advisory body responsible for the inscription, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN. But these bodies are refusing to alter the document, arguing it is “part of the historic record” and must continue to be displayed online in its original form.

“The Tasmanian government is deeply disappointed in the UN’s decision not to amend the original inscription,” Mr Jaensch told The Australian.

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is also unhappy, vowing to take up the issue personally with UN bodies.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says the original document should ‘reflect our new understanding’. Picture: Blair Jackson.

“We now know how wrong, insulting and hurtful it is to say that Tasmanian Aborigines are ‘extinct’,” Ms Plibersek told The Australian.

“I believe UNESCO and the IUCN should acknowledge that, and I will say so to UNESCO and IUCN leaders when I next meet with them. I have also asked my department to engage with IUCN and UNESCO to address this issue.

“Ideally the original statement should reflect our new understanding. In the interim, I’m pleased a (separate) retrospective statement will be considered by the World Heritage Committee later this year. It will recognise Aboriginal cultural values that are practised by the Aboriginal community across this World Heritage property.”

That is not enough for some Indigenous leaders, such as Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania chair Michael Mansell. They ­believe the original inscription must be altered to adequately atone for the insult and correct the public record.

“The foundational basis for the World Heritage listing needs to be overhauled to acknowledge that the 1.5 million-hectare area is substantially World-Heritage listed because of its Aboriginal cultural values,” Mr Mansell said.

Tasmania’s Aboriginal Affairs minister Roger Jaensch.

He said Mr Jaensch had compounded the hurt by failing to consult Indigenous people on the issue. “Jaensch’s response of dismissing any Aboriginal involvement is tantamount to endorsing the original offensive claim that Tasmanian Aborigines were dead as a race,” Mr Mansell said.

A broader issue was the state government’s ongoing failure to provide Indigenous people with sufficient involvement in the management of the region, he said.

Ironically, those advocating greater Indigenous rights have ­included the IUCN, the same body declining to remove the claim that Tasmanian Aborigines are “extinct”.

The 1982 IUCN document ­declaring Tasmanian Aborigines extinct keeps an open mind about the thylacine, stating: “With distinctive landforms, outstanding examples of cool temperate rainforests, important aboriginal sites (the Tasmanians are now an ­extinct race of humans), and many endangered species … (including perhaps the thylacine or Tasmanian wolf), the area is unique and special at a world scale.”

Covering about a fifth of Tasmania, the region includes Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers, Mt Field, Walls of Jerusalem, Southwest, Hartz Mountains and Mole Creek Karst. The IUCN did not respond by deadline.