Buchbesprechungen 
233 
Gisela Völger: 
Die Fasmanier. Versuch einer ethnogra 
phisch historischen Rekonstruktion. Arbei 
ten aus dem Seminar für Völkerkunde der 
Johann-Wolf gang-Coethe-U niversität 
Frankfurt a. M., Bd. 3. Wiesbaden: Stei 
ner 1972. VII, 381 S., 39 Abb., 4 Ktn. i. T. 
In recent years there has been a tremen 
dous growth of interest in the many aspects of 
civilization associated with the Aboriginal Pe 
oples of Australia. Much of this Interest has 
centred upon their arts and artefacts, their 
hunting, fishing and gathering activities, and 
the fatal impact upon them of white coloni 
zation — a very recent phenomenon — in 
Terra Australis Incognita. Inevitably most of 
this interest has centred upon the mainland 
tribes — although how far one can classify the 
Tiwi of Melville and Bathurst Islands as 
mainlanders is a moot point. 
Against this background an exhaustive 
analysis of the Aborigines of Tasmania is 
warmly to be welcomed. The last full blood 
aborigine upon the island of Tasmania died 
over one hundred years ago, and inevitably 
with the passage of time while interest in the 
native Tasmanians will grow, the task of 
ethnographic and historical reconstruction 
will in no wise be easier. 
G. Völger has tackled an immensely com 
plex task with verve and gusto, and she has 
added decidedly to our knowledge of one of 
the world’s growing number of forgotten 
peoples. 
Tasmania is separated from the Australian 
mainland by over 200 kilometres of water, 
the savage and ever changing Bass Strait. 
Clearly the Tasmanians, the aboriginal islan 
ders, were a race apart from the mainlanders. 
Their weapons, their hunting methods, their 
whole way of life had considerable contrasts 
with that of their continental counterparts. 
Nor is this wholly surprising. Clearly separa 
tion and isolation, and the very different cli 
mate when compared with the Australian 
Mainland led to a whole variety of separate 
types — of flora and fauna, especially: G. 
Volger traces, in a meticulous ethnographic 
and historical reconstruction, just how the 
Tasmanian Aborigines came to terms with the 
island setting which was their world. 
Not the least attraction of the fascinating 
reconstruction is the comprehensive balance 
and historical accent given to those who had 
dealings with and wrote about Tasmania’s 
Aborigines in the past. Throughout there is a 
readiness to let the sources tell their own 
story. The Tasmanians is a book which will 
appeal to all who fear the fatal impact of 
man’s monstrous “progress” towards an ever 
more uniclvilized future. 
Chapter headings in G. Volgers study tell 
their own story. “Environment”, “Historical 
Introduction”, “Prehistory”, “Economy”, 
“Political and Social Order”, “Life Cycle”, 
“Ceremonial”, “Religious Life“. This reviewer 
was constantly comparing and contrasting the 
Tasmanians with their continental neighbours, 
while growingly made more aware of the 
heinous crime perpetrated against these de 
fenceless peoples. 
“Vogelschutz ist Menschenschutz” — “Die 
Tasmanier” is a book which lies near the 
heart of modern man’s dilemma. As we re 
flect upon the past constantly one asks — 
could it happen again? — or more perti 
nently — where is this taking place right 
now? On every level we, uncivilized, re 
gressing modern man have much to learn from 
the world of the past. It is at least encouraging 
that Premier G. Whitlam hat got his priori 
ties right, at last, with regard to the Abori 
gines. G. Volger has performed a valuable 
task in educating public opinion while writing 
an intensely moving and deeply interesting 
account. The book is to do with a subject no 
less that “Man’s Survival”. 
Gordon Campbell