Tasmanian history, and Tasmanian Aboriginal history in particular, has a uniquely long and unbroken tradition of research and writing. Historians began to reflect on Tasmania’s frontier war even as it drew to a close in the 1830s and they have continued ever since. The topic has stirred intense debate and more than half a dozen new publications since the turn of this century. Stevens, an established writer of fiction, has thus chosen for her first book of history a much-studied subject. But she has nonetheless found an area of Tasmanian Aboriginal history that has received less attention. Me Write Myself recounts the years immediately after Tasmania’s frontier wars, from 1832–48, when almost all the Tasmanian Aborigines were living in exile in the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island in Bass Strait. Moreover, Stevens turns her focus to a largely overlooked set of records, the texts written by the exiles: the regular contributions they wrote to the Flinders Island Chronicle; their sermons, their correspondence to colonial officials and, significantly, their petitions to the Crown, seeking recognition of their rights.

中文翻译：

---

“我写我自己”：1832-47 年，威巴伦纳范迪门土地上的自由土著居民

塔斯马尼亚历史，尤其是塔斯马尼亚原住民历史，有着独特的悠久而不间断的研究和写作传统。历史学家开始反思塔斯马尼亚的边疆战争，即使它在 1830 年代接近尾声，并且从那以后他们一直在继续。自本世纪之交以来，这个话题引发了激烈的争论，并引发了六种以上的新出版物。史蒂文斯是一位著名的小说作家，因此为她的第一本历史书选择了一个研究广泛的主题。尽管如此，她还是发现了塔斯马尼亚原住民历史上一个不太受关注的领域。Me Write Myself 讲述了塔斯马尼亚边境战争之后的那些年，从 1832 年到 48 年，当时几乎所有的塔斯马尼亚原住民都流亡在巴斯海峡弗林德斯岛上的威巴伦纳原住民社区。而且，史蒂文斯将她的注意力转向了一组很大程度上被忽视的记录，即流放者写的文本：他们定期为弗林德斯岛编年史所做的贡献；他们的布道，他们与殖民官员的通信，以及重要的是他们向王室请愿，寻求承认他们的权利。