A native of Tasmania, Tarenorerer (c. 1800 – 1831) led a rebellion against British settlers in Tasmania during the Black War.
Seal hunters
Tarenorerer was born around 1800 near Emu Bay in northern Tasmania to the Tommeginer tribe. As a teenager, she was kidnapped by another Aboriginal tribe and sold to white seal hunters in Bass Strait (separating Australia and Tasmania). We know very little about this period of her life, except that she learned English and the handling of firearms from them. We can also assume that she retains a great resentment against the settlers from this episode.
In 1828, Tarenorerer returned to her home in northern Tasmania. She brings together men and women from different backgrounds to unite them against the invaders and launch a revolt. Having observed the combat techniques of the colonists, she teaches her warriors the handling of firearms and urges them to strike their enemies when their weapons are discharged and before they have had time to reload them. Embarking on strategic guerrilla warfare, she also orders her troops to kill the colonists' herds of cattle and sheep.
The Black War
In 1830, the Black War broke out and massacres took place, such as at Cape Grim where thirty Aborigines were killed by shepherds, in retaliation for the loss of their herd. George Augustus Robinson is then commissioned as a mediator between the colonists and the Aborigines, and seeks to apprehend Tarenorerer, but she escapes him.
Captured by seal hunters, Tarenorerer is taken to Hunter Island in Bass Strait. She spent some time there with settlers and other Aboriginal women, without making herself known and under the identity of ‘Mary Anne’. In December 1830, she planned to kill one of the seal hunters, but her plan was discovered. Tarenorerer is taken to Swan Island, where her identity is unmasked. Robinson, who calls her "the Amazon", is delighted with this capture and has her isolated, lest she incite revolt.
Tarenorerer died of the flu on June 5, 1831. The Black War claimed around 1,000 lives between 1830 and 1834, mostly Aboriginal people.