[2] She lived through the devastation of invasion and the Black War in which most of her relatives died, avoiding death herself by being assigned as a guide in expeditions organised to capture and forcibly exile all the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians.

[2][4] In modern times, Truganini's life has become representative of both the dispossession and destruction that was exacted upon Indigenous Australians and also their determination to survive the colonial genocidal policies that were enforced against them.

[11] At the time of Truganini's birth, the British had already begun colonising the region around Nuenonne country, severely disrupting the ability of her people to live and practise their traditional culture.

The timber-cutters also brutally murdered and drowned two Nuenonne men, one of which was Truganini's fiancé, by throwing them out of a boat and cutting off their hands with an axe as they tried to clamber back in.

[14] The mission left Bruny Island in early 1830 with Truganini playing a very important role not only as an linguistic interpreter on local Aboriginal language and culture, but also by providing much of the seafood for the group.

Called the Black Line, it was a 2,200 man strong chain of armed colonists and soldiers to sweep the settled areas looking to kill or trap any Aboriginal people they found.

[20] They arrived at Cape Portland in October 1830 having rescued several Indigenous women from the slavery of the local sealers, and been joined by the respected warrior Mannalargenna and his small remnant clan.

They were informed of the failure of the Black Line to capture or kill many Aboriginal people and it was decided by the government to use the nearby Bass Strait Islands as a place of enforced exile for those Indigenous Tasmanians collected by Robinson.

[22] While in Hobart, Robinson successfully negotiated a contract with the colonial authorities for him to lead further expeditions to capture all the remaining Aboriginal Tasmanians and transfer them to confinement in Bass Strait.

Truganini was able to escape this disaster though as Robinson took her, Woureddy, Kikatapula, Pagerly, Mannalargenna, Woretemoeteryenner, Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner as guides to capture the remaining Aboriginal Tasmanians in the settled districts.

They started off in July 1831 with the initial aim of finding the respected Tyerrernotepanner leader Eumarrah and his small clan, whom they captured in late August near the locality of Pipers Brook.

[14] Truganini again avoided exile to the Bass Strait Islands by being a guide for Robinson's expedition to capture the remaining Indigenous people of the west coast of Tasmania.

Several other guides including Eumarrah and Kikatapula died early in the expedition, but Robinson still managed to apprehend through deceitful means most of the remaining tribespeople from the Cape Grim region.

[14] In late 1832 and early 1833, Truganini assisted in several mostly unsuccessful expeditions in the west and south-west led by the colonist Anthony Cottrell, whom Robinson had delegated authority to while he was away.

By July they had captured almost all of the remaining west coast people including the Tarkiner tribe led by a man named Wyne who had attempted to kill Robinson the previous year.

[14] Some Aboriginal people were still reported to be residing in the wilderness around Sandy Cape and the Vale of Belvoir, so in early 1834 Robinson set out again with Truganini and the other guides to find them.

Before heading west, they firstly attempted to obtain two Aboriginal slaves that were in possession of John Batman at his Kingston estate along the Ben Lomond Rivulet.

However, crossing the Arthur River on the return journey, Truganini again saved Robinson's life by swimming out to his raft and towing it to the bank after it was carried away by the swift current.

[14] After sending these Tarkiner off to exile at Wybalenna, Robinson left the expedition, placing his sons in charge to find the remnant Tommigener clan located near the Vale of Belvoir.

For months, Truganini and the others trudged through heavy winter snow and spring rains but finally located the last eight people of this tribe in December near the Western Bluff.

In February 1835, these Tommigener were shipped off to Wybalenna from Launceston, leaving Robinson to claim his rewards for removing almost in entirety the remaining Aboriginal population from mainland Tasmania.

During this period Truganini and Woureddy became celebrities and had their portraits painted by Thomas Bock and the sculptor Benjamin Law also created casts and busts of their profiles.

The group decided to head to Westernport Bay to take revenge on a local colonist named William Watson, whom they believed shot dead Maytepueminer's husband Lacklay.

[3] By 1847, many of the exiled Aboriginal Tasmanians at Wybalenna had died including Mannapackername and it was decided to shift the approximately 47 survivors to an abandoned convict settlement at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart.

According to The Times newspaper, quoting a report issued by the Colonial Office, by 1861 the number of survivors at Oyster Cove was only fourteen: ...14 persons, all adults, aboriginals of Tasmania, who are the sole surviving remnant of ten tribes.

Besides these 14 persons there is a native woman who is married to a white man, and who has a son, a fine healthy-looking child...The article, headed "Decay of Race", adds that although the survivors enjoyed generally good health and still made hunting trips to the bush during the season, after first asking "leave to go", they were now "fed, housed and clothed at public expense" and "much addicted to drinking".

[32] Truganini continued to survive and in the 1860s became involved in a relationship with a younger Tasmanian Aboriginal man, William Lanne (known as "King Billy") who died in March 1869.

The government subsequently sold off the land and buildings, with Truganini being moved to Hobart to live in the family home of the last superintendent of the Oyster Cove facility.

[9][42] According to historian Cassandra Pybus's 2020 biography, Truganini's mythical status as the "last of her people" has overshadowed the significant roles she played in Tasmanian and Victorian history during her lifetime.

Pybus states that "for nearly seven decades she lived through a psychological and cultural shift more extreme than most human imaginations could conjure; she is a hugely significant figure in Australian history".