#mathinna
A little known part of Franklin’s history, he and his wife once adopted a Tasmanian girl. This article gives pretty much all that’s known about her, and one portrait survives:
There is a fictional account of her life mentioned in the article that I have mixed feelings about. It’s powerful in the depiction of the poor treatment of the aboriginal peoples of Australia which is compelling enough to read, which I really liked, but kind of unethical in making Franklin out to be a pedophile rapist which is horribly unethical enough to not read, which I really hated….so…. your call.
The author even admits we don’t really know what Franklin thought of Mathinna, so…assume the worst…. I guess? Personally I think Franklin just saw her as interesting as a social experiment or kind of a ‘pet’ for his daughter, but that was unfortunately the attitude of the times. How poorly the native Tasmanians were treated underlines how they were seen as subhuman. She was probably left behind after Franklin was recalled because he and his wife likely never really saw her as much more than an exotic novelty or one of Lady Jane’s fancies, and as for her inability to adjust the word disenfranchisement says it all. Having your cultural identity torn from you at an early age, forced into another culture, and then being tossed into an orphanage because the experiment is over is enough to make anyone maladjusted.
