George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator
Colonial Celebrity and Its Postcolonial Aftermath
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4465701 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anna Johnston (0000-0002-2891-6569) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 153-172 |
| Publication date | 2009-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Postcolonial Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-8790 • E-ISSN: 1466-1888 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13688790902887155 |
| OpenAlex | W2001585315 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
George Augustus Robinson, the 'Great Conciliator', conducted one of themost high profile and subsequently notorious experiments with indigenouspeople in the nineteenth-century British Empire. His 'removal' of Aboriginesfrom the settler-dominated main island of Tasmania, the southernmost of theAustralian colonies, was well known at the time: celebrated by many as themost efficacious resolution to frontier conflict, even as it was criticizedby (some) liberal commentators. As Patrick Brantlinger argues, colonial,American, European and British commentators were acutely interested in thefate of indigenous peoples when they encountered Western civilization: theTasmanian genocide (as it was known) 'offered a moral and political lesson inhow the progress of empire and civilization could be badly botched'. Ideas about Robinson and his 'mission' to the Tasmanian Aborigines havecirculated in popular culture fromthe 1830s onwards. Avariety of mechanismshave kept Robinson in the public imagination. Benjamin Duterrau's portraitof Robinson in 'The Conciliation' memorably pictures a soft-faced Britonsurrounded by his Aboriginal 'charges', whereas colonial and imperialcommentators often positioned Robinson within the ranks of sanctionedrepresentatives of the racial science of high imperialism. Alongside suchrepresentations, Robinson and the Tasmanian Aborigines were envisioned bypopular newspapers, pamphleteers and writers in the Victorian economyscommodification of Empire. These imaginings of Robinson were as vigorousin imperial centres as in the colonies, and have continued to be so. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century authors - both Australian and international - seemcompelled to re-imagine Robinsons story
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art history · British Empire · Civilization · Colonialism · Empire · Frontier · Indigenous · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Australian History and Society · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.2 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2019 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |