Acts 17:26
"The story of the complete extermination of the native peoples of Tasmania in the late 1800s is a well-documented example of one of the many negative results of pre-and post-Darwin racist evolutionary theories.
Statements by Tasmanian contemporaries document the belief that
the Tasmanians were regarded as biologically inferior humans. One local Tasmanian land commissioner “referred to local blacks as ‘Ourang Outang’s,’ adding that it would be a disgrace “to the human race to call them Men.”
"The story of the complete extermination of the native peoples of Tasmania in the late 1800s is a well-documented example of one of the many negative results of pre-and post-Darwin racist evolutionary theories.
Statements by Tasmanian contemporaries document the belief that
The human evolutionary chain began with the highest level of humans, white European males….. and at the bottom were the Tasmanian natives, “who were scarcely distinguishable from apes.”
Conversely, “evangelical Protestantism of the late eighteenth century… advocated monogenism, the idea that all humans descended from Adam and Eve. Their preachers insisted that, given the right conditions, people of any race might be ‘improved.’
In harmony with this belief, missionaries flocked to the British colonies in the Americas, India, South Africa and the Pacific,” and later added Australia and Tasmania to their mission work."
Allport, the principal exporter of the bodily remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to Europe, during his career
shipped a total of five Tasmanian Aboriginal skeletons to Europe, proudly identifying himself as the most prolific trader in Tasmanian bodily remains. He made clear in his letters that he had directed the grave-robbing himself. …. "as populations of …. Tasmanian Aboriginal people were diminished, demand for their remains in museums and private collections increased."
Conversely, “evangelical Protestantism of the late eighteenth century… advocated monogenism, the idea that all humans descended from Adam and Eve. Their preachers insisted that, given the right conditions, people of any race might be ‘improved.’
In harmony with this belief, missionaries flocked to the British colonies in the Americas, India, South Africa and the Pacific,” and later added Australia and Tasmania to their mission work."
Allport, the principal exporter of the bodily remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people to Europe, during his career
shipped a total of five Tasmanian Aboriginal skeletons to Europe, proudly identifying himself as the most prolific trader in Tasmanian bodily remains. He made clear in his letters that he had directed the grave-robbing himself. …. "as populations of …. Tasmanian Aboriginal people were diminished, demand for their remains in museums and private collections increased."
Morton Allport worked to meet this demand. Allport’s exploits.jpg)
included acquiring the remains of an Aboriginal man, William Lanne, considered a “prize specimen” as he was believed by the colonists to be the last Tasmanian man when he died in 1869. … Allport likely instructed that Lanne’s body be mutilated both before and—following his exhumation—after his burial so that Allport could add him to a museum collection in Hobart…. despite state-sponsored violence committed against …. Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples, they were both described by the colonists as being at fault for what happened to them—that they couldn’t cope in the ‘modern’ world.”
The concern over Allport’s activities is based on the fact that, instead of treating the remains of these people with the respect due to human beings, they were treated as animals, both when they were alive and when they had died. When they were alive, normal human compassion would have done what was necessary to ensure they did not become extinct. But due to racist beliefs existing then, they were treated as if they were an inferior race and, as Darwin correctly predicted, would become extinct, rendering the gap between apes and modern man wider.
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The concern over Allport’s activities is based on the fact that, instead of treating the remains of these people with the respect due to human beings, they were treated as animals, both when they were alive and when they had died. When they were alive, normal human compassion would have done what was necessary to ensure they did not become extinct. But due to racist beliefs existing then, they were treated as if they were an inferior race and, as Darwin correctly predicted, would become extinct, rendering the gap between apes and modern man wider.
In Darwin’s words,
The Tasmanian extermination is another example of the harm caused by racist ideas, both Darwinian and pre-Darwinian. The long record of causing harm to humanity is still being rectified. Fortunately, the scientific community is finally, albeit slowly, attempting to come to terms with this horrid past."
"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes…will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian [aborigines] and the gorilla."
SummaryThe Tasmanian extermination is another example of the harm caused by racist ideas, both Darwinian and pre-Darwinian. The long record of causing harm to humanity is still being rectified. Fortunately, the scientific community is finally, albeit slowly, attempting to come to terms with this horrid past."
CEH