Our purpose is to provide culturally appropriate services and support our indigenous community.

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About FIAAI

The Flinders Island Aboriginal Association Incorporated (FIAAI) is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation established in 1971 by a group of local Aboriginal people and their partners. FIAAI is governed by an Aboriginal Board of Management elected by the community. The Board provides strategic direction to the organisation and delegates the day-to-day operations to the CEO.

FIAAI provides a range of services on Flinders Island, including: Primary Health and Aged Care, Housing, Youth Services, a Statewide Tackling Indigenous Smoking & Vaping Project and three business enterprises.

The Primary Health and Aged Care service employs a full-time registered nurse, a number of health assistants/home carers and a range of visiting health professionals including a general practitioner, physiotherapist, dietician and diabetes educator.

Services include the delivery of Aboriginal Flexible Aged Care packages, seniors exercise classes and craft activities, chronic disease early intervention and prevention activities, pharmacy services, development of care plans and a range of health promotion activities including weekly Mum’s and Bub’s program.

The aged care program is designed to support people to stay healthy and live in their own homes and provides in-home assistance as well as Meals on Wheels.

The FIAAI Healthy Lifestyle project is based in Launceston and outreaches across Tasmania, focusing on delivering health promotion messages around tobacco, nutrition and physical activity.

FIAAI supports enterprise development to improve employment opportunities on the Island and owns Thule Farm, Freckles Cafe and the local Bakery.

Governance

FIAAI is a State Incorporated Association governed by an Aboriginal Board of Management elected by the community.  The Board provides strategic direction to the organisation and delegates the day-to-day operations to the CEO.

A selection of locally made Tasmanian Aboriginal artefacts and jewellery.

A selection of locally made Tasmanian Aboriginal artefacts and jewellery.
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Meet the team

Maxine Roughley - CEO
Toni Wood - 2IC / Finance
Cathy Sausa - Finance
Fiona Stewart - Reception / Housing
Mary Bushby - Health and Aged Care Manager
Janey Macqueen - Registered Nurse
Ochre Turner - Integrated Care Coordinator

Bianca Dargaville - Aged Care Officer
Khristee Lade - Tackling Indigenous Smoking Program
Kate Posch - Mums & Bubs
Kerry Green - Aboriginal Aged Care Health Field Worker
Pete Freeman - Maintenance Officer
Graham Blyth - Groundsman

Timeline

Historical Timeline Tasmanian Aborigines

Tasmanian Aborigines (BP = year before the present; all dates are approximate)

43,000 BP

The island was joined to mainland Australia by a land bridge between Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria and northeast Tasmania, making it possible for people to walk south to the island

43,000 BP

42,000 BP

Aboriginal people were living on the banks of the Jordan River, north of Hobart

42,000 BP

40,000 BP

People were living in Parmerpar Meethaner Rock-shelter at the head of the Forth River, and in Warreen Cave in the Maxwell River valley in southwest Tasmania

40,000 BP

36,000 BP

The climate briefly warmed and the land bridge was flooded

36,000 BP

30,000 BP

The climate began to cool, sea-levels began falling, the land bridge grew in size

30,000 BP

27,000 BP

Mannalargenna Cave on Prime Seal Island and Beeton Rock-shelter on Badger Island were first occupied by Aborigines; occupation of both sites continued until 10,000 BP

27,000 BP

27,000 BP

People were living in Cave Bay Cave on Hunter Island in northwest Tasmania

27,000 BP

23,000 BP

Kutikina Cave in the Franklin River valley, southwest Tasmania, was first occupied; the Franklin and nearby Maxwell River valleys became Ice Age refuges for many Aborigines; wallaby and wombat were the staple meat foods

23,000 BP

20,000 BP

People established an ochre mine at Point Hibbs on the southwest coast of Tasmania; sometime later, people began making art with ochre in at least four southwest caves

20,000 BP

18,000 BP-15,000 BP

Very slow warming of the climate occurred; the use of Mannalargenna Cave and Beeton Rock-shelter intensified, suggesting either increased population levels or possible migration of people from Victoria

18,000 BP-15,000 BP

14,000 BP

The climate continued to slowly warm, highland glaciers began melting, sea-levels began to rise, the land bridge was flooded, and the occupation of southwest caves ceased

14,000 BP

12,000 BP

The Earth’s orbit tilted, causing rapid climate warming and ending the Ice Age; pollen evidence shows that the regular controlled firing of one million hectares of button-grass plains in western Tasmania had commenced by this date and that regular firing continued until the 1830s; people used the friction method to make fire

12,000 BP

10,000 BP

Wetter and warmer conditions encouraged rapid forestation of much of the island, rainforest in the west, eucalyptus in the east; the Warragarra Rock-shelter site was established at the head of the Mersey River; old coastal camp sites were slowly flooded over the following 4,000 years

10,000 BP

8,400 BP

Camp sites and controlled firing were established at Rushy Lagoon in northeast Tasmania

8,400 BP

8,200 BP

Camp sites and controlled firing were established at Rocky Cape in the northwest

8,200 BP

8,000 BP

Wetter and warmer conditions peaked; forests were thicker for the following 3,000 years

8,000 BP

7,600 BP

Shell-fish sites were established at Carlton River in the southeast

7,600 BP

7,200 BP

Controlled firing was used to clear rainforest near Tarraleah in the central highlands

7,200 BP

7,000 BP

Coastal camp sites and controlled firing were established at and near Palana on Flinders Island and at the mouth of the Tamar River

7,000 BP

6,000 BP

Camp sites and controlled firing were established at Waterhouse Point in the northeast

6,000 BP

6,000 BP

Sea-levels stabilised, the island assumed its present coast, and all older coastal camp sites were now flooded; people lived mostly on a diet of shell-fish, seal, muttonbirds, land mammals & plant foods

6,000 BP

5,000 BP

The climate became cooler and drier; forest cover decreased, grasslands increased; new sites were established at oyster grounds on the east and southeast coasts; use of controlled firing increased, and new inland sites in the island’s east and central midlands were established

5,000 BP

4,000 BP

Occupation of Flinders Island ceased because in the drier conditions it was too small to support a viable hunter-gatherer population

4,000 BP

4-2,000 BP

For 2,000 years the climate was under the influence of an El Nino effect: rainfall was unpredictable and extended droughts occurred

4-2,000 BP

3,500 BP

People engaged in widespread expansion into coastal areas in the northwest, southwest, the north coast hinterland, and on the slopes of the Great Western Tiers

3,500 BP

3,500 BP

Scale fish called wrasse or parrot fish, which constituted no more than 5-10% of the diet, developed a disease which made the fish fatally toxic for humans; wrasse were dropped from the diet

3,500 BP

3,000 BP

People using bark canoes established new seasonal sites on several off-shore islands, including Hunter and Robbins Islands in the northwest and Maria Island in the east

3,000 BP

3,000 BP

Almost the entire island was now occupied; regular firing was used in all parts of the island to reduce bush-fire risk, and to cultivate native grasses for wallaby grazing and root plants for human consumption

3,000 BP

1,000 BP

Greater use was made of sub-tidal resources, including abalone and crayfish, at coastal sites; the number of middens continued to grow, suggesting the human population was also increasing

1,000 BP

700 BP

Catamarans were invented and used to sail from Louisa Bay to Maatsuyker Island to hunt seals

700 BP

1642

Abel Tasman noticed Aboriginal fires in southeast Tasmania

1642

1772-1802

French and British sailors made land-fall in southeast Tasmania on eight separate occasions and had interactions, some friendly and some hostile, with local Aborigines

1772-1802

1803-4

British forces occupied Aboriginal land at Risdon Cove; up to 50 Aboriginal men, women and children were killed and others injured in the Risdon Cove massacre

1803-4

1807-1820

Aboriginal men were murdered and women and children were regularly abducted by free colonists and convict hunters

1807-1820

1810-1820

European sealers and Aboriginal women, some forcibly abducted, established an Aboriginal Islander community on the Furneaux Islands

1810-1820

1817-1828

A million acres of Aboriginal hunting grounds in the north, the centre and the east were given free by government to invading colonists, who stocked the land with a million sheep

1817-1828

1824

The government led by George Arthur began a six-year war against Aborigines who resisted the theft of their lands and the abduction of the women and children; large numbers of Aborigines and smaller numbers of colonists were killed

1824

1826

Resisting Aborigines were classified as enemies of the state and the use of force against them was sanctioned by government

1826

1828

Martial law was declared, which meant Aborigines could be legally shot on sight

1828

1829

G.A Robinson began his ‘friendly mission’ to ‘persuade’ Aboriginal survivors to relocate to a prison camp on the Furneaux Islands

1829

1830

The so-called Black Line convinced surviving Aborigines to accept a false government offer to give them Flinders Island in return for going into voluntary exile

1830

1832-47

Aboriginal survivors of the war were imprisoned at Wybalenna on Flinders Island, where many died from common respiratory diseases

1832-47

1830

Mutton-birding became the core economy for the Aboriginal Islander community

1830

1847

Survivors of Wybalenna were removed to vermin-ridden buildings at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart

1847

1850-60

The Aboriginal Islander community, led by Lucy Beedon, campaigned for land rights and a school on Cape Barren Island (CBI)

1850-60

1876

Truganini died and the myth of Aboriginal extinction began

1876

1881

A reserve for Aboriginal Islanders was established on CBI

1881

1897

The CBI Aboriginal Association was formed to lobby for self-management on the reserve and control of muttonbird rookeries

1897

1899

Fanny Cochrane Smith recorded songs of her people that she learned as a child at Wybalenna

1899

1909

Royal Society of Tasmania member William Crowther illegally removed the remains of twelve Aborigines from graves at Oyster Cove

1909

1912

The CBI Reserve Act limited citizenship rights for reserve residents

1912

1915

More Tasmanian Aborigines per head of population enlisted in the Great War than from any other place in Australia

1915

1922

An Islander petition to the Government unsuccessfully sought ownership of the reserve

1922

1951

Cape Barren Island Reserve was closed, some Aborigines remained on the island, others moved to Launceston, Burnie and Hobart

1951

1950-70

Welfare authorities engaged in forced child removal

1950-70

1973

The Tasmanian Information Centre, later the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) was formed and began to agitate for land returns, the recognition of identity, and the return of stolen human remains

1973

1973

The Flinders Island Community Association was formed and was later renamed the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association. **

1973

1976

According to her wish, one hundred years after her death, Truganini’s remains were cremated and scattered in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel

1976

1976

Michael Mansell presented a petition to the English Queen seeking land rights

1976

1977

The TAC petitioned parliament for the return of land and compensation for their theft

1977

1982

The TAC mounted a campaign to prevent the flooding of southwest caves by a dam on the Franklin River

1982

1983

Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council was formed to negotiate with government for heritage protection and land returns

1983

1984

Oyster Cove was occupied by the TAC and claimed as Aboriginal land

1984

1985

Parliament legislated the return of all human remains held in Tasmanian museums to the Aboriginal community; Aborigines began to lobby museums in Europe to return stolen remains

1985

1991

A group of about ten Flinders Island Aborigines re-occupied the Wybaleena site and made it clear that they had reclaimed the area in the name of the Aborigines living on Flinders Island. This was never more evident than with the sign that hung on the gate that read ‘You are now entering Aboriginal land, please respect our culture’. **

1991

1991

The TAC occupied Rocky Cape and claimed it as Aboriginal land; the area was later included in a national park

1991

1991

A land rights Bill was passed in the House of Assembly but rejected by the Legislative Council

1991

1995

A successful land rights Bill, introduced by Ray Groom’s liberal government, returned 3,800 hectares, including Oyster Cove and Risdon Cove, to the Aboriginal community

1995

1997

Tasmania became the first state to formally apologise for forced child removal

1997

1999

Wybalenna was returned to Aboriginal ownership and its role in the genocide of Tasmanian Aborigines was acknowledged by then premier Jim Bacon

1999

1999

ILC purchased Thule Farm on Flinders Island for the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association.

1999

2000

25,000 people walked over Hobart’s Tasman Bridge in support of Reconciliation

2000

2005

Most of Cape Barren Island was returned to Aboriginal ownership, the TAC renamed the island Truwana

2005

2006

The commitment by the Flinders Island Aboriginal Community led the ILC to grant title to the Flinders Island Aboriginal Association, achieving the first Indigenous land ownership on Flinders Island other than housing allotments. **

2006

2006

Tasmania was the first jurisdiction in Australia to legislate to provide compensation to the Stolen Generations and their families. A $5 million fund was created to provide payments to eligible members of the Stolen Generations and their children

2006

2011

Despite strong objections from Aborigines and their supporters, the state government built a major bridge across a 42,000 year old Aboriginal site on the Lower Jordan River

2011

2013

A culturally-rich, 7,000 hectare property in the central highlands called Gowan Brae was returned to Aboriginal community ownership, under a partnership between the Australian government, the Australian Indigenous Land Corporation, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, and the TAC

2013

We gratefully acknowledge Dr Shayne Breen for his permission to use this timeline. School of Geography & Environmental Studies – University of Tasmania

** Additional Flinders Island information: Maxine Roughley CEO – FIAAI