Tarenorerer, also known as Walyer, Waloa, or Walloa (1800 – 5 June 1831), was a rebel leader of the

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Between 1828 and 1830, she led a guerrilla band of indigenous people of both sexes against the British colonists in Tasmania during the

Black War } The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British Empire, British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. The conflict, fought largely as a guerrilla war by both sides, claimed the lives of 600 ...

Early life

Tarenorerer was born in circa 1800 near

Emu Bay Emu Bay may refer to *Emu Bay (South Australia), a bay ** Emu Bay, South Australia, a locality ** Emu Bay Shale, a geological formation associated with the above locality * Emu Bay (Tasmanian geographic feature), on the northwest coast ** Burnie, Ta ...

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

as a member of the Tommeginne people. As a teenager, she was taken captive by Indigenous kidnappers and sold as a slave to white colonists in the Bass Strait Islands. During her captivity, she learned to speak English and how to use firearms. Two of her brothers and two of her sisters joined her with the sealers.

Resistance

In 1828, she was able to return to northern Tasmania, where she gathered a guerrilla band of Indigenous warriors of both sexes and lead them against the colonists. As she was able to train them in using firearms, they were successful.

George Augustus Robinson George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a British-born colonial official and self-trained preacher in colonial Australia. In 1824, Robinson travelled to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, where he attempted to negotiate ...

referred to her as an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and was very concerned about her ability to incite a revolution. Tarenorerer escaped to

Port Sorell Port Sorell is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is on the waterway of the same name, just off Bass Strait, 20 km east of Devonport and close to Shearwater and Hawley Beach. It borders the Rubicon Estuary, whi ...

with her brothers Linnetower and Line-ne-like-kayver and two sisters but was captured by sealers and taken to the Hunter Islands. They were then taken to Bird Island to catch seals and mutton birds. In December 1830 she was taken to Swan Island, where her identity was revealed. Her capture, Robinson said, was 'a matter of considerable importance to the peace and tranquility of those districts where she and her formidable coadjutors had made themselves so conspicuous in their wanton and barbarous aggression'. She was imprisoned at the Gun Carriage (Vansittart) Island, where she fell sick and died of influenza in prison.

Early life

Resistance

See also

References

Further reading