ABSTRACT
The most prolonged attempt at ridding Tasmania of the Pallawah has been to challenge our very existence through a denial of identity. The writings of early colonial Tasmanian history were biased and racist, with good reason. The written message was an instrument used to sustain racial propaganda, in order to ensure the continued perception of British superiority and the Tightness of the illegal invasion. The policy of segregation in Tasmania was developed to separate people of Pallawah descent from members of European society and to give legal status to the removal of Pallawah children from families. In Tasmania in particular, the focus is directed towards this question because of the myth that Truganini was the last Tasmanian Aborigine and the race was extinct. In Tasmania it also meant that for the first time our community was recognised as Aboriginal by law under the Federal Government policy regarding Aboriginal identity.
