Big River and Oyster Bay people
The Big River people and Mumirimina clan of the Oyster Bay nation were neighbours and allies, with each group caring for their people, country and way of life, as set down by the ancestors through the law of country for millennia.
However, conflicts with colonists erupted over (stolen) land and the stealing of women and children, escalating with the deaths of Aboriginal people and colonisers.
The population of the Big River and Mumirimina people depleted, while settlers kept coming.
As a result of the conflicts, in 1825 the remnant Big River and Oyster Bay peoples formed freedom fighter groups – fiercely defending their country; their rights under their laws.
Government agent, George Augustus Robinson had been seeking to meet with this group of freedom fighters but had been unsuccessful. However, on 31 December 1831 at a place called Waykaywirinu, near Lake Echo on the central plateau, they finally agreed to meet him.
As a result of the discussions and agreement made on that day, sixteen men, nine women and one child, led by the leader of the Big River people, Muntipiliyata and Oyster Bay leader Tukalunginta, began the walk to Nipaluna (Hobart Town), stopping at Bothwell, where they celebrated what was to be their last corroboree on their homeland outside the Castle Hotel on 5 January 1832.
After their arrival, they were dispatched to Wybalenna, Flinders Island and removed forever from their respective ancestral homelands. The agreement made in good faith has yet to be honoured.
