Forgotten lives - the first photographs of Tasmanian Aboriginal people

The stare of most of the Old People, our Tasmanian Aboriginal forebears, is relentless, accusatory, unwavering. Captured in the nineteenth century lenses of at least eight colonial photographers, permanently present, their gaze is more than only fixed forever at a time, amidst events they should not have experienced. It is something uncanny and uncomfortable, downright painful to be subjected to. While not direct ancestors, these people are kin and compatriots. When I look at their faces I see family and feel a lot more than I want to.