Call for additional signage on Tasmanian monuments, highlighting violent past

As debate rages overseas about statues of people with links to African slavery, some believe there has never been a better time to talk about problematic monuments here at home.

TASMANIA’S violent history has left the island with its fair share of statues and monuments to historical figures whose stories contain darker chapters.

And as Black Lives Matter demonstrations sweep the globe, including here in Australia, some believe there has never been a better time to talk about these problematic figures.

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Just this past week, a statue of Edward Colston was pulled down and dumped into a river by protesters in Bristol in the UK, because the 18th century benefactor made his fortune as a slave trader.

In the US, there is mounting pressure to remove statues of Confederate Civil War heroes because of the south’s support of slavery.

Aboriginal Land Council chairman Michael Mansell. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

And in Tasmania, Aboriginal Land Council chairman Michael Mansell said monuments commemorating the likes of Lt Governor John Bowen and former premier William Crowther should either be removed or have additional interpretative signage, explaining the less noble actions of the men.

“At Risdon Cove there’s a monument honouring John Bowen, at the site where Aboriginal people were slaughtered. But we didn't take it down, we erected a sign alongside it explaining the history of the man and the place,” Mr Mansell said.

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Risdon Cove was the first European settlement in Tasmania, but in May 1804 it was also the site of the first massacre of Aboriginal people by the British. The monument has been repeatedly vandalised.

William Crowther’s statue at Franklin Square in Hobart was erected in honour of his service as a doctor and as premier of Tasmania from 1878-1879. But he also mutilated the body of

Tasmanian Aboriginal man William Lanne in 1868, stealing his skull and sending it to the

Former premier William Crowther with a can of soft drink and seagull perched on his head.

The vandalised Bowen monument at Risdon Cove.

Royal College of Surgeons in England, and sparking a squabble over the rest of the body, resulting in the hands and feet being cut off and the remainder deboned.

“If there was a big sign around his neck saying ‘this man was a racist who mutilated the body of an Aboriginal man’, I think I’d be happy with that,” Mr Mansell said.

Tasmanian historian Reg Watson said it was more important that statues remained for people to make up their own minds: “We are all imperfect,” he said.

“Everybody makes poor judgments, but these statues are there to honour the better achievements of these men,” he said.

Tasmanian historian Alison Alexander said the fact that these disputes were rising to the surface was evidence enough something had to be done:

“Hearing people’s opinions about this is absolutely vital, really engaging with the people who are offended by these monuments,” she said.

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Mr Mansell said there was no amount of great achievements that could balance out the atrocities committed by someone like William Crowther.

“We are not bound today by the sentiments of the people who erected that statue over 100 years ago,” he said.

“Some things are so obnoxious to human expectations that they can’t be tolerated,” he said.

“When we find out that these great American film producers were also sexually abusing women behind the scenes, we don’t say ‘oh let’s ignore that and celebrate all their nice movies’, do we?”