In the 1830’s George Augustus Robinson wrote in his diaries of entering the ‘Tarkine’ in search of the ‘Tarkineer Aboriginal Band’, just one of the Aboriginal tribes who inhabited the western Tasmanian coastline (from the Arthur River to the Pieman River) before European colonisation. This is the earliest recorded usage of the word ‘Tarkine’. Rich in Aboriginal culture and history, today we know The Tarkine as a very diverse region.
The Tarkine: Whyte’s Lookout, Waratah Tasmania
What IS The Tarkine?
by Carol Haberle
A region that consists of wild, rugged coastlines; cool temperate rainforests; privately owned rich, fertile farmlands; state forests and protected areas. A 477,000 hectare wilderness in the remote north west of Tasmania. It covers an area from the Arthur River to the north; the Pieman River to the south; the Murchison Highway to the east and the Indian Ocean to the west.
Tarkineer Aboriginal Band
Along the wild, wind-swept coastline can be found numerous hut depressions found in aboriginal middens, artefact scatters, ceremonial stone arrangements, petroglyph’s, and spongolite (a particular rock used to make stone tools). All the remains of the sedentary way of life of a band of Tasmanian Aborigines who lived along the coastline, hunting seals, land mammals and gathering shellfish.
Mouth of the Arthur River: edge of the Tarkine
Huge sand dunes which extend several kilometres inland and continue to grow, slowly filling forests with sand. Small fishing villages from where brave fishermen still today test the wild oceans in their small fishing boats.
Tasmanian Rainforest
The Tarkine includes Australia’s largest tract of cool, temperate rainforest, which supports the flora, lichens and fossils that help tell the story of Tasmania’s ancient flora and its evolution, showing links to the ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland. A walk through the cool, green comfort of these rainforests is a delight.
Lichen and fungi: Tarkine rainforest floor
Soft green mosses, fungi and lichen underfoot; towering manferns; huge old myrtle trees up to 50 metres high tower overhead. Leatherwood and sassafras trees, everything so cool, green and alive with unique creatures and habitats not found anywhere else in the world. It is a home to many threatened and endangered species of both flora and fauna.
Global Significance: Settlements, Mountains and Rivers
The Tarkine is also home to globally significant magnesite karsts (landforms characterised by caves and sinkholes), including unique cave and pinnacle formations. Filled with pioneering heritage, our history is evident in the historical settlements of Temma, Corinna, Balfour, Waratah, Luina and Magnet.
Trowutta Arch: magnesite karst, the Tarkine Tasmania
From the mountains to the sea, the wild rivers flow through much of the Tarkine. The Arthur, the Pedder, the Thornton, the Rapid and the Donaldson all flow from mountains through the wilderness of the Tarkine. The Arthur River is completely wild, never logged, never dammed and free from bushfires for over 650 years.
So often we hear of a place that has outstanding heritage significance. A place that has both natural and cultural history; a place that is important to science; a place relatively untouched by human activity or a place of extraordinary, pristine beauty.
In Tasmania, we have The Tarkine. It contains all of the above, and so much more.
Tarkine Rainforest, Tasmania
All photos ©Carol Haberle, H&H Photography. You can follow Carol on Facebook at Haberle Photo Cards
If you like this article about Tasmania, and you’d like to read more, just subscribe to our newsletter or join us on social media via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. If you really like this article, and you want others to see it, you can choose one of the “share” options below. We’d love that!
Comments relevant to this article are always most welcome, just leave a reply below. But first… please confirm the date of this article. Have you found something current, or is this ancient information? Either way, thanks for your company and come back again soon.
My happiest memories are of Tasmania. So diverse. Wild on one side! Then move to the other: calm beautiful beaches. Move again? Interior! Great lakes. Dove lake. Oh, I could go on for ever!
Hi Eiliin,
A personal thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my article…yes, The Tarkine, a personal passion for me…but in saying that, I must also say my whole home state is a passion for me, I so love the diversity of this island, I so love our history, every moment I live here creates a new memory.
Thanks again,
Sincerely,
Carol
What a wonderful article and fabulous pictures from Carol. Well done my friend. Hopefully this will help in getting the message out there that the Tarkine is truly a special place.
Thank you so very much Michelle…I barely skimmed the surface re our beautiful Tarkine, so much of the beauty and history of this region needs to be shared…yes, a passion, lol.
Sincerely,
Carol
I never knew how the word ‘Tarkine’ was coined, thank you Carol for your informative article. It was truly a wonderful experience being able to ‘feel’ the area of the Tarkine brought to life by a person who obviously has much love and empathy with her environment.
And THANK YOU Roseann for taking the time to stop by…I’m so truly happy my words had that impact…and yes, my love for the Tarkine truly runs deep.
Thank you again,
Sincerely,
Carol
Great photos. It brings back fond memories of Tiger Ridge and skinny dipping in the freezing black waters of the Huskisson River.
Hi Rosemary,
I’m so happy to have been able to stir fond memories of such wondrous events in your life…and truly, there is nothing in the world compares to skinny dipping in the icy cold waters of the Tarkine rivers, lol, an experience everyone should have!.
Thank you so much for stopping by,
Sincerely,
Carol
Such an eye for beauty you have Carol. 🙂 I just want to get lost in the wilderness. Thank you for sharing 🙂 I even learned some history that I did not know. Keep up the fantastic work my friend.
A wonderful presentation of wonderful Tasmania, and I am so pleased to see that someone else has discovered the Trowutta Arch, a magical place which we discovered when a friend accidentally discovered it. It is so beautiful and so peaceful in the forests around it.
Hi Lorraine,
It still amazes me too that a location such as the ‘magical’ Trowutta Arch seems to be only found by accident, the peace and beauty found here is truly a rarity…it’s a place I travel to time and time again, and always the beauty seems to grow.
Thank you for your kind words, and thank you for stopping by,
Sincerely,
Carol
Hi Michael,
Thank you so very much for your kind words, so appreciated, and fills me with a desire to be able to share so much more of my homeland, the history and the beauty.
I truly appreciate you for stopping by,
Sincerely,
Carol
Thank-you so much Carol, how lovely to read an article based on one of Tasmania’s treasures.
Beautiful images, beautiful words, you take me there 🙂
Hi Angela…thanks for stopping by…and it’s a pleasure to share the ‘treasures’ of Tasmania.
Sincerely,
Carol
Thanks Carol, you have answered many of the questions I had about the area in Tasmania that we call the Tarkine. It is a place really unique and therefore should be protected.
Hi Erin,
I have to say “I agree with you”, an area such as this, an area that tells so much about the evolving of our world, so unique in so many ways, deserves protection. My hope is that, like you, people can read my article and learn of the beauty from it, and then take the time to visit the Tarkine…they will not be disappointed. Thanks for stopping by Erin,
Sincerely,
Carol
Hi, I’m a tourist in your beautiful country, leaving Tasmania tomorrow after 6 weeks of experiencing a wonderful journey here. My friend in the states sent me this link to your story last night, and now I’m sharing it with all. You Carol Haberle are an ambassador for your state every Tasmanian should be proud of. We visited your beautiful Tarkine and now having read this I have a better understanding of the uniqueness of the area…having travelled to many places in the world I have never seen anything as beautiful and soul stirring as your Tarkine rainforests, so green and beautiful.
Now I will have this to show all my friends back home, and share with them your obvious love of your homeland. Thank you Carol.
Regards,
Margaret (Missouri, States)
P.S. Will check in periodically to seek more of your articles, I am sure you will stir many happy memories of a wonderful 6 weeks in your state.
Hi Margaret,
Wow, thank you so much for your beautiful comments, I’m truly humbled…and The Tarkine, oh yes, ‘soul stirring’ describes it so well. I wish you safety in your travels Margaret, and truly hope our Tassie has left you with some magical memories…thank you again.
Sincerely,
Carol
Whan an enlightening article. Having lived many years in Tasmania and being fortunate to see a lot of the beauty your state has to offer it is wonderful to read an article written by someone who is obviously very passionate about their surroundings. The photo’s accompanying your article are awe-inspiring. Carol you should be proud of yourself, you are a true ambassador of Tasmania. Thanks for sharing your well researched and written article.
Hi Laurie,
Thank you so, so much…I imagine you know what your words mean to me…and THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read and share…Hugs!
Well Carol, your photos and articles are just beautiful . You are so clever and i am proud to have you as my sister-in-law.love you x x
Hi Margie,
Oh wow, thank you so, so much…the support of family and friends means so much to me…love you…xoxox
Hello Carol, I love what you’re doing for the Tarkine. It is unique to anywhere on the planet and needs to be protected. Awareness of the great wilderness area and the other old growth forest in Tasmania is so important. So much has already been lost on this pristine island. Keep up the good work! Dan Fellow
Hi Dan,
thank you so much for your kind words, sincerely appreciated! I too agree, this unique area needs to be protected, it truly is one of very few globally significant areas left in the world, we need to both protect and preserve it.
Sincerely,
Carol
Beautiful place, lovely I wish I was there now. Just hoping that you might be able to find the aboriginal name for the Sassafras tree, a friend has given me something made from it, the blackhearted one, and i would be interested to know what its name is in aboriginal.
Hi Jacinta,
Thank you so much for stopping by…mmmm, our beautiful Sassafras Tree, (Atherosperma moschatum), the timber of which is used to make everything from jewellery to furniture. Both the Sassafras and the Blackheart Sassafras (commonly known in Tassie as Blackheart Sassy) are both one and the same tree, but a fungal disease can affect the heart of the tree giving the resulting ‘black staining’ known as blackheart. As for the aboriginal name sweetie, as yet I cannot help you with that, but please be assured I’ve sent out a few queries to the relevant places and as soon as I hear back from them I’ll post again here for you.
Sincerely,
Carol
Hi Again Jacinta,
Well, the best I can come up with for you is the word for Sassafras from a Victorian band of aborigines, ‘caalang’…if I ever do manage to get a Tasmanian one I’ll be sure to let you know.
Sincerely,
Carol
Carol, I admire your enthusiasm. Just a few things, however, GA Robinson did not use the word ‘Tarkine’ He described meeting the Tarkiner people who lived near Sandy Cape. ‘Tarkine’ is a modern-day invention of the conservation movement. There is limestone, dolomite and magnesite karst in the so-called Tarkine. The Trowutta Arch is in dolomite, not magnesite. While the Arthur River has not been dammed for hydro-electricity generation, it effecitvely now begins in a dam built for the Magnet silver mine a century ago. The Arthur River has also been polluted by mine tailings and acid mine drainage, especially from Mount Bischoff.
Hi Nick,
Thank you for your corrections, and for stopping by…re the naming of The Tarkine, my information taken from a couple of ‘history books’ and also from “The Proposal for a Tarkine National Park”, submitted to government. i.e. “George Augustus Robinson, appointed by the Governor to ‘conciliate’ with the Aboriginal people and to remove them from their traditional lands, mentions the Tarkine and the Tarkiner people a number of times in his diaries: “…. I learnt that the TARKINER natives were to come and fight them when the rest came back from Robbins Island – the TARKINER would come two dark nights after the moon was gone (it was now moonlight).”
“Ryan L. The Aboriginal Tasmanians. Second Edition Allen and Unwin.
Harries D. W. Forgotten Wilderness: North West Tasmania. A Report to the Australian Heritage Commission. Tasmanian
Conservation Trust. Hobart (1992)”
Thanks again,
Sincerely,
Carol
Carol
Since you have already cited Robinson’s diary, take a look at it (Friendly Mission), especially pp.551-63, when he encounters the Tarkiner people of Sandy Cape, and see if you can find any reference to a place called the Tarkine. Lyndall Ryan does not claim that he mentioned a place called the Tarkine, and, although it is a few years since I went through the Harries report, I’d be very surprised if the claim is made there. As I said before, the word Tarkine was invented by a conservationist in the 1980s.
Nic
Thanks Nick for clearing up a lot of mis-truths about this area by certain groups – my family and I have been there for over 30 years and have showed friends all the sights between the Pieman river to The Old Balfour cementry by 4wd and quad bikes plus running cattle every year to the Cape – a truly amazing place and respected by the majority !