The current Smithsonian has a marvelous feature article about the Tasmanian devil, its habits, how it got its name, etc. Here's the abstract, but it's worth buying this issue (Feb., 2002) if only for this and for the Boss Tweed story someone else mentioned. I was going to pull up the old "from the land of" thread where the Tas devil was discussed a bit, but it's too long (enjoy stales!):

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues02/feb02/devil.html

Ah, but the link:
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues00/mar00/kiwi.html
leads to my biography, which begins:

Night Belongs to the Kiwi

It may look fuzzy and adorable but this New Zealand bird is one tough customer

So jest watcher selves, is all I can say!

Now, now Cap, there's room enough for everybody. Stoats are what you have to worry about not Taz.

It's not really your fault people think of the Tasmanian devil more than the Kiwi. I mean consider...

...the Tasmanian devil is represented as a colourful cartoon character - a lovable villain who has entertained and still entertains millions of kiddies.

...the Kiwi,on the other hand, is represented as shoe wax. (oh and that fuzzy fruit with all those teeny black pits that get stuck in your teeth, that you find only after you have smiled at your coworkers all day and had that big presentation in front of your boss and the board of directors and flirted with that cute girl on the elevator)

..the Kiwi, on the other hand....

!!! Go, bel!

...the Kiwi,on the other hand, is represented as shoe wax. Akshully® bel, Kiwi shoe polish is a Striner product. The guy who started it up stole his wife's nationality as a brand name [oh, the shame of having "Kiwi" registered as an Ozzie brand!]

(oh and that fuzzy fruit with all those teeny black pits that get stuck in your teeth, Akshully®, bel, Kiwifruit is really stolen from China. They used to be known as Chinese gooseberries. Chile is currently stealing them from New Zealand. We've taken to calling them Zespris, I think. Oh, the tangled webs ...

that you find only after you have smiled at your coworkers all day and had that big presentation in front of your boss and the board of directors and flirted with that cute girl on the elevator)

Oh, sorry bel, didn't know your inclinations went that way ...

riposte...riposte me not...riposte...riposte me not.... 2 points to the Kiwi expatriate! bel?...we know you can do it!

Ah, yes, CK, I'd have recognized you anywhere:
"Into my field of view," writes Derek Grzelewski, "runs the oddest-looking creature, a shaggy, pear-shaped fur ball, that sniffs and snorts like an agitated hound."
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues00/mar00/kiwi.html

[doing some snorting, myself, e]

Not to get too wordistic here ...but I did notice in the "devil" story that they mentioned Trowunna Wildlife Park and stated that Trowunna is Tasmania "in a local Aboriginal dialect."
And that would be?...CapK? Stales? Max?

Oh, sorry bel, didn't know your inclinations went that way ...

Bien non, Cap. the ones I flirt with are generally of the dangly-bit persuasion and not of the protuberances persuasion.

If you notice I said *YOU smiled at *your coworkers and *your boss and flirted with the cute girl.

Also, Monsieur, I am a lady and as such, carry a compact to avoid such eventualities as stuck teeny kiwi pits (or teeny Kiwi bits as the sad case may be)

Akshully®, I think the last Tasmanian aboriginal was a woman who died in the 1930s. But I haven't LIUed, so this is just opinion ...

Hi Max & CK (and interested others):

Here's a link to a brief article about Tasmanian aborigines.

http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/tasmania.html

"Aboriginality" is quite an issue in Tasmania and its definition is in continual flux.

Well, my memory was clearly wrong about the date. But not about the fate of the Tasmanian aboriginals. The Europeans were as bad in Tasmania as they were in South Africa. Doesn't bear thinking about, actually.

The Europeans were as bad in Tasmania as they were in South Africa. Doesn't bear thinking about, actually.

Wholeheartedly agreed. From my understanding, the history in Tasmania is so grotesque that CK could not possibly do it justice in polite language.

Edit: I have deleted my quotation from Brittanica, as it is redundant with paulb's excellent link, except to disabuse any who might think the link is in any way an internet fiction.

From CK above...leads to my biography, which begins:
Night Belongs to the Kiwi...It may look fuzzy and adorable but this New Zealand bird is one tough customer...

Living as you are now, CK in the land of Pomes-- isn't a bird a young woman? So in your voyage from NZ to dear old England, you grew younger and had a sex change? Fancy you not mentioning it to us.. how does SWMBO deal the new you?

POM is "Prisoner of Mother England". "Bird" is actually used for both femaales and males of dubious provenance, depending on circumstance. The second meaning was the circumstance in this case.

But why do you imply that I may have got younger? Not that I'd object or anything, like.

paulb, my humble thanks. I'd had no idea.

Paulb

An horrific story and indefensible - but probably no different to the tales of european settlement and colonialism anywhere. The indians of South America, the tribes of Africa, native Americans and Innuit people all suffered to the same extent.

For those that wonder however, the European settlers of Tasmania simply could not reconcile that the aboriginals (Tasmanian or otherwise) were human beings. This is alluded to in the web page provided by paulb - the settlers believed they were a link between mankind and the apes.

That said, it takes a far superior person than I to even contemplate forgiving settlers everywhere for their barbarism.

stales

I think the last Tasmanian aboriginal was a woman who died in the 1930s. But I haven't LIUed, so this is just opinion ...

Based on the information from the article PaulB provided,the last full-blood Aboriginal in Tasmania was Truganini who died in 1876.

Historically,

Hev

"friend you haven't met yet..."