Crowther Reinterpreted

Palawa life in the mid 1800s and William Lanne.

Short text

William Lanne was a Tasmanian Aboriginal man alive in the 1800s, born and raised in his ancestral lands. Lanne's family lived through invasion, the Black War of the 1820s and the decades-long colonial project aimed at the complete erasure of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from their country.

In 1842 William Lanne's family were the last Tasmanian Aboriginal people known to be living freely in their traditional lands. By then, many Palawa people had already been removed from their country and were living in Tayaritja/the Bass Strait Islands.

Removed from his family, Lanne was instructed in English and Christianity at the Orphan School and the missions of Wybalenna and Putalina/Oyster Cove. As an adult, he became a whaler and travelled the world. He advocated for the rights of his people who were still living at the Aboriginal mission at Oyster Cove.

When William Lanne died in Hobart in 1869, the trade in Tasmanian Aboriginal bodies was well established. The practice was based on defunct notions of a racial hierarchy that promoted European supremacy and justified violent colonialism.

For Tasmanian Aboriginal people, the statue of the mutilator William Crowther stood as a celebration of the atrocities committed in our violent colonial past. It was a constant reminder of the disrespect shown to Palawa people, even in death. For decades the Tasmanian Aboriginal community expressed that hurt by calling for its removal.

When colonial commemorations of white supremacy like the Crowther statue are removed, it is a signal to Palawa people that contemporary society is willing to engage honestly with our history.

Long text

Invasion and war

In the mid-1800s, Palawa life was decisively shaped by invasion and war. Almost as soon as the British arrived in 1803, they enacted a system of violent colonialism directed towards the complete erasure of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from their own Country.

The first decades of invasion were characterised by the establishment of new towns and large colonial land grants for farming and industry. The resulting dispossession of Aboriginal people caused a lot of conflict, with many massacres and attacks recorded. In the early colonial era, native food sources, including the emu and kangaroo, were hunted to extinction. Aboriginal women and children were abducted and used in colonists' homes as a free source of domestic, productive and sexual labour.

Palawa people staunchly resisted invasion and dispossession. Tasmanian Aboriginal presence and resistance was the biggest block to colonial expansion in the early decades of the colony.

Once the Black War was declared in 1826, the colonial government coordinated military campaigns to remove Palawa people from Lutruwita/Tasmania. The most infamous of these campaigns was the Black Line of 1830. This was a line of 2200 soldiers, convicts and free colonists combing the island on foot, seeking to capture any Tasmanian Aboriginal people left alive.

When this approach failed, the colonists adopted a new strategy: erasure by removal. In the 1830s, the colony hired George Augustus Robinson. Over five years he travelled with several Palawa people, visiting every nation across Lutruwita and negotiating with survivors. All surviving Palawa people were removed from their Country to remote Flinders Island, where they were to be indefinitely incarcerated at the Wybalenna settlement. In 1846, the 46 survivors of Wybalenna were moved to Putalina/Oyster Cove, south of Nipaluna/Hobart.

The genocide enacted against Palawa people during the colonisation of Lutruwita/Tasmania in the 1800s is regarded as one of the most extensive genocidal campaigns in human history.

Stealing remains

Almost immediately after the British arrived in Lutruwita in 1803, they began collecting and trading in Tasmanian Aboriginal remains. In 1804 the first massacre of Palawa people occurred at Piyura Kitina/Risdon Cove during a kangaroo hunt. Afterwards, the bodies of two Tasmanian Aboriginal people were stuffed into barrels and sent to Sydney.

Grave robbing, bone stealing and mutilating human bodies was said to be done in the name of science. Europeans of the 18^th century believed in a racial hierarchy, with white Europeans at the top and other races beneath, classed as lower order beings. This was a racial hierarchy based on white supremacy that placed Tasmanian Aboriginal people at the bottom. Using the recently standardised scientific method, white Europeans sought to use human remains from all over the world to reaffirm this hierarchy. These theories, although defunct, were often used to justify the genocide and dispossession of Lutruwita's original owners.

The trade in remains was undertaken in several ways: to meet the demand for remains, some colonists killed Tasmanian Aboriginal people and mutilated their bodies; others mutilated the bodies of dead Tasmanian Aboriginal people whose families were unable to give them proper ceremony; and some colonists removed the remains of Tasmanian Aboriginal people who had been laid to rest on their Country or dug up the graves of those who had received Christian burials.

The market for remains was originally fuelled by scientific interest, but it eventually transitioned to a market built on scarcity. Colonists persuaded each other that the complete extinction of Tasmanian Aboriginal people was inevitable. This made Palawa remains an increasingly rare commodity for morbid collectors.

William Lanne

William Lanne was a Tasmanian Aboriginal man alive in the 1800s, born and raised in his ancestral lands. Lanne's family lived through invasion, the Black War of the 1820s and the decades-long colonial project aimed at the complete erasure of Tasmanian Aboriginal people from their Country.

In 1842 William Lanne's family were the last Tasmanian Aboriginal people known to be living freely in their traditional lands. By then, many Palawa people had already been removed from their Country and were living in the Tayaritja/Bass Strait Islands.

Lanne was instructed in English and Christianity at the Wybalenna mission and later at the Orphan's School. As an adult, he became a whaler. He became known as King Billy, often joining his people on visits to the governor and meeting the Duke of Edinburgh at the Hobart regatta.

The last husband to Trukanini, Lanne maintained his culture and his obligations to his people, advocating for the rights of those still living at the mission at Putalina/Oyster Cove.

Wiliam Lanne died in Hobart in 1869. His coffin was adorned with possum skins and traditional weapons of waddies and spears. The service took place at St David's Cathedral, and he was eventually buried in St David's Park, then a cemetery. His wife, Trukanini, was not allowed to attend his funeral.

Ongoing impacts

Unlike Aboriginal people, European colonists did not consider those with one Aboriginal parent to be Aboriginal. They described William Lanne as 'the last full blood Tasmanian Aboriginal male' and Trukanini as the 'last of the extinct race of Tasmanian Aboriginal people'. These titles were bestowed even when one hundred or more Palawa people lived across the Bass Strait Islands and in the south of Nipaluna. The colony used the extinction myth to absolve itself of responsibility for providing rights, compensation or justice to Tasmanian Aboriginal people, whose ancestors were the target of ethnic cleansing during the invasion of Lutruwita. This myth was a way to avoid the reality that, in the absence of a treaty, Tasmanian Aboriginal people remain the true owners of the Country now occupied by the British colony.

There was a public outcry following the mutilation of William Lanne at the hands of William Crowther, and Tasmanian law was changed to protect the rights of the dead. The Anatomy Act of 1860 was amended, making it illegal to tamper with people's bodies after their death unless permission had been given while they were alive. However, this law was not universally applied. When Lanne's wife Trukanini died in 1876, her body was exhumed and her entire skeleton put on public display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery until 1947.

Despite the negative public response to Crowther's actions and the new law, grave robbing did not end in Tasmania. Crowther, along with his contemporary Henry Pybus, secured land next to the mission at Putalina/Oyster Cove where Palawa people were forced to have Christian burials. Crowther's grandson, also called William, dug up the graves of the Palawa people buried there, eventually 'donating' their remains to the Royal Society of Tasmania.

The 'Crowther collection' was held by TMAG until the 1980s. These ancestral remains were only returned to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community after they fought to have the law changed to allow their deaccession from TMAG's collection.

The Crowther statue and Palawa community activism

The story of William Crowther and William Lanne is the story of a genocide, of scientific racism, and of a long and continuing struggle for the return of Tasmanian Aboriginal ancestors. Tasmanian Aboriginal people maintain the belief that their ancestors can never be truly at rest until they are returned to their own Country.

For this reason, Palawa people have continued in the fight to bring their ancestors home and give them proper ceremony. Since the return of Trukanini in 1976, the Palawa community has successfully returned many ancestors to Country, but there are many more still waiting.

The statue of William Crowther served as a reminder of Palawa obligation to their ancestors and our ongoing struggle to have them respected and returned. It also stood as a symbol of social assent to the atrocities committed in our violent colonial past, a reminder of the disrespect shown to Aboriginal people, even in death. For decades the Tasmanian Aboriginal community expressed that hurt in calling for the statue's removal.

At the time of the mutilation of William Lanne in 1869, one writer to the Mercury said, 'large proportions of Tasmania still regard Aboriginals with far less consideration than they are accustomed to bestow upon their dogs or cats'. As the colony continued to celebrate the mutilation of Tasmanian Aboriginal people, through symbols like the Crowther statue, Palawa people felt this truth for generations.

When the Crowther statue was desecrated and removed, the Tasmanian Aboriginal community celebrated. To see Crowther cut off at the ankles was a victory relished by many. The removal of colonial commemorations of white supremacy like the Crowther statue tells Palawa people that mainstream colonial society is now willing to look honestly at its history and has matured enough to develop some capacity for humanity and empathy towards Aboriginal people.

There are many more Aboriginal stories in Franklin Square, more even in Nipaluna/Hobart. There are generations of Aboriginal people telling the tales of our past and creating new expressions of culture and new stories here always. We hope soon to see more of these stories reflected and celebrated in public space.

Colonial life in the mid 1800s and William Crowther.

Short text

Dr William Lodewyk Crowther was a much-loved Hobart doctor who often provided free treatment to the poor. He had many business interests and was elected to parliament. But he was also, 'always in hot water', 'a man who persists in picking a quarrel with all the world'.

In the mid-19^th century, many Tasmanians thought Aboriginal people had been appallingly treated: colonists had stolen their land, killed many and moved the rest to Flinders Island. But European scientists saw Tasmanian Aboriginal people as relics of the stone age, and collected their artefacts and bones.

William Lanne, a Tasmanian Aboriginal man incorrectly referred to as 'the last of his race', died in 1869. The Royal Society of Tasmania wanted his body. So did Dr Crowther, who hoped to expand knowledge and his reputation by sending it to England. Lanne's body was mutilated and Crowther was widely believed to have removed the skull: he later claimed to own it. Others were also implicated.

There was an outcry. The Mercury claimed people were horrified at the mutilation and ashamed of the colony's brutal treatment of Aboriginal people. The hospital board dismissed Crowther, but his supporters petitioned for his reinstatement, saying his opponents – political and personal – had used the controversy to get rid of a difficult colleague. He was re-elected to parliament the next month. For many, Crowther's work as a doctor outweighed his defects. The mutilation was seen as a shameful act best forgotten.

When Crowther died, a committee of his friends erected a statue to honour him, the chair noting 'that even monuments perish, but deeds – good or bad – never die'.

Long text

William Crowther and 19^th century Tasmania

William Lodewyk Crowther was born in Holland in 1817. Soon after, the family migrated to Hobart where in 1842 William became a doctor. William and his wife Victorine had eleven children, with Victorine known for her charitable work.¹

Crowther was loved for his sympathy to the poor. Struggling patients did not have to pay his bills, and he provided free medicine.² He was endlessly busy: an honorary medical officer at the Hobart General Hospital, a businessman (whaling, importing guano as a fertiliser, timber, prospecting for minerals³) and community organiser of events such as the Hobart Regatta.⁴ But he was difficult: 'one of those unhappy individuals who are always in hot water with somebody or other', 'a man who persists in picking a quarrel with all the world'.⁵ He was accused of being dishonest and acting from personal motives.⁶ In an election in 1866 he topped the poll – but he was not made a minister. He resigned.⁷

His interests included science, and he sent samples of fish, animals and plants to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. In 1865 the College honoured his 'work in the cause of science', and the secretary asked him for Aboriginal skeletons, male and female. In 1859 many scientists regarded the remains of Palawa – Tasmanian Aborigines - as important evidence of what they regarded as one of the most primitive races on earth.⁸

When the British colonised Lutruwita/Tasmania, they took Palawa land. Palawa fought back, but were defeated after bloody conflict – the Black War – with survivors moved to Flinders Island between 1831 and 1834. A few colonists protested this mistreatment, but never enough to change it.⁹

Europeans regarded Palawa as uncivilised nomads with few possessions, who epitomised 'Stone Age man' and were therefore interesting scientific objects. Educated colonists admired science for its benefits, such as steam engines and vaccines, and ignored negative aspects. Some – including the Governor's wife, Jane Franklin – sent Aboriginal artefacts, weapons, and bones to interested people overseas.¹⁰ Some people in Europe looked down on the colonies, and sending specimens to European institutions allowed colonists to gain honour and glory.

Most Europeans were Christians. Christianity said that human bodies were sacred and should be buried decently. But some scientists thought the interests of science overrode Christian ethics – though they took bodies secretly. The bodies of the poor were not always respected, whatever colour they were. In Hobart's public hospital, poor colonists whose bodies were not claimed by family for burial were often dissected by medical students.¹¹

Once the danger of attack by Palawa had passed after the Black War, more colonists felt sympathy for them. They admitted that Palawa had been appallingly treated, their land stolen, many of them killed.

William Lanne was known as 'Tasmania's Last Male Aboriginal' – that is, he had no European blood¹² – and William Crowther was eager to send his skeleton to the Royal College of Surgeons. However, the Royal Society of Tasmania was determined that it should stay in Tasmania. Even before Lanne actually died, both the Royal Society and Crowther asked the premier, Richard Dry, for his body.¹³ None of these eminent men thought Lanne had any right to a decent burial.

On Wednesday 3 March 1869 Lanne died, and his body was taken to the Hobart hospital dead house.¹⁴ The hospital surgeon, Dr Stokell – who worked with the Royal Society – asked Dry to protect Lanne's body from Crowther. A watch was set on the dead house, but on Friday evening Dr Crowther and his son entered. They left some time later, empty-handed.¹⁵

Later, Stokell found that Lanne's head had been cut off and scalped, then replaced by a white man's skull with Lanne's scalp sewn round it.¹⁶ The suggestion went round that Crowther had cut off Lanne's head and thrown it over the hospital wall so that he could walk out innocently.¹⁷ Stokell was appalled. Determined that Crowther would not have the entire body, he cut off Lanne's hands and feet for the Royal Society.¹⁸

This story caused outrage. The Hospital Board suspended Crowther¹⁹ and Lanne's mutilated body was buried on Saturday with great solemnity and ritual. Later that night someone stole it from the grave. Someone else, finding the body missing, left a mess, with the replacement skull lying in the graveyard.²⁰

The Mercury (whose owner detested Crowther) reported that public indignation was immense and declared that Crowther deserved to be suspended. Ordinary people had a better appreciation of decency and propriety than the upper classes. The indignation should reduce the shame that clung to the colony about the fate of the Aboriginal people.²¹ Another newspaper wrote that Crowther knew he did wrong: he acted secretly, at night, it was shocking and disgraceful.²²

But was everyone offended? Supporters of Crowther argued that cutting off Lanne's head was 'an act which if analysed amounts to nothing' and that the government and hospital board used the affair as an excuse to get rid of an outspoken difficult colleague.²³ Crowther was popular enough to be re-elected to parliament a month later.²⁴ A petition signed by 1200 people demanded his reinstatement at the hospital.²⁵ Crowther's supporters took up a subscription and presented him with a purse of money for his work for the poor and to recompense him for his unjust treatment.²⁶ The Royal College of Surgeons made him a Fellow and awarded him its gold medal, 'for the great value and importance of your many liberal contributions and the promotion of Science'.²⁷ For many people in Hobart, Crowther's guilt in mutilating William Lanne was outweighed by his virtues as a doctor and community member. The affair quickly died down, as a shameful act best forgotten.

Crowther had more controversies with the hospital board, and in 1878 served a short term as premier. After he died in 1885, supporters suggested erecting a tribute to him.

A committee of his friends collected subscriptions for a statue, raising £700 – though exactly who gave what is unknown, as the usual list of subscribers was not published.²⁸ The statue was made in bronze by a London sculptor, Signor Racci.²⁹ The inscription stated it was erected 'by a grateful public and sincere personal friends' to perpetuate the memory of Crowther's 'long and zealous political and professional services'.³⁰ When the statue was unveiled in 1889, the chairman of the organising committee said it might remind future generations 'that even monuments perish, but deeds – good or bad – never die'.³¹

Many colonists sent Aboriginal bones to European institutions, but only William Crowther had a statue erected to him (John Franklin, who also has a statue in Franklin Square, did not try to stop his wife's activities). While Crowther came to be seen as the prime mover in the mutilation of Aboriginal bodies, he was just one of many such men in Tasmania. Nonetheless, in the twenty-first century his name and statue came to symbolise a dark practice in the state's colonial past, and became the site of political contest.

And what did happen to Lanne's body? Years later Crowther claimed to be still in possession of his skull, when he wrote to William Flower of the Royal College of Surgeons with an undertaking to send it to him.³² All sorts of stories were told, but today no one knows for certain the whole of it. The theft and desecration contributed nothing to scientific research.

¹ W.E.L.H Crowther, 'William Lodewyk Crowther', https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/crowther-william-lodewyk-3297 viewed 27 July 2026.

² Mercury, 16 April 1885.

³ Mercury, 13 April 1885; TDB 24 June 1857.

⁴ Mercury, 7 October 1864.

⁵ Cornwall Chronicle, 27 January 1866; Mercury, 15 August 1867.

⁶ Tasmanian Morning Herald, 21 September 1866.

⁷ Tasmanian Morning Herald, 20 December 1866.

⁸ Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869; Mercury, 23 May 1865; N.J.B. Plomley, The Baudin expedition and the Tasmanian Aborigines 1802, Hobart, 1983, pp.65, 91, 31.

⁹ For example, Hobart Town Courier, 23 January 1830, speech by George Frankland.

¹⁰ For example, Jane Franklin's diary 30 June 1840.

¹¹ Mercury, 12 March 1869, evidence from Stokell.

¹² Mercury, 27 March 1869.

¹³ Tasmanian Times, 9 March 1869; Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869.

¹⁴ Tasmanian Times, 9 March 1869.

¹⁵ Tasmanian Times, 9 March 1869.

¹⁶ Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869.

¹⁷ Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869.

¹⁸ Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869.

¹⁹ Tasmanian Times, 9 March 1869.

²⁰ Launceston Examiner, 9 March 1869; Mercury, 8 March 1869.

²¹ Mercury, 9 March 1869.

²² Tasmanian Times, 22 March 1869.

²³ Tasmanian Times, 15 March 1869.

²⁴ Mercury, 23 March 1869.

²⁵ Launceston Examiner, 22, April 1869.

²⁶ Tasmanian Times, 28 September 1869.

²⁷ Tasmanian Times, 26 July 1869.

²⁸ Tasmanian News, 4 September 1888.

²⁹ Tasmanian News, 9 January 1889.

³⁰ Tasmanian, 12 January 1889.

³¹ Launceston Examiner, 10 January 1889.

³² Royal College of Surgeons Museum Letterbooks, April 1873, vols 1 and 2.

Social/arts commentary on how a statue come to be legally (and illegally) removed.

Short text

On statues

A statue is not history.

History is history.

William Crowther had done much in his life, but by 14 May 2024, his statue was resoundingly associated in the public mind with the mutilation of William Lanne's body. That act of desecration, notorious in Crowther's lifetime, had only grown in infamy over the decades. The bronze statue, erected by donors in 1889, was felled.

Removing or damaging statues is so frequent in human history that we have a word for it: iconoclasm. History is driven by action; objects are subject to these actions. Objects are evidence of history happening, but they are not history.

Things change. We change.

Statues can tell more than one story. One story may dominate, but other narratives rarely disappear. In 1895 in Bristol, England, a statue was built of Edward Colston to note his contribution to the city; in 2020, a mob removed the statue due to Colston's involvement in slavery.

This is iconoclasm in action.

As cultures develop, voices once erased or muted rise. When change happens, so does iconoclasm.

This has happened for millennia.

We do this to make a better story. By removing that statue of William Crowther, the story the Palawa people tell is given a long-overdue weight and focus. This is a powerful moment of history, laced with pain but filled with a truth long hidden.

This is history.

It is far larger than any statue.

Long text

On statues

When I think now of the statue of William Crowther that used to stand in Franklin Square, the first thing I think is that the statue stopped being just a statue of William Crowther some time ago. This is normal for art that's been around for a while: how art is actually, really understood, changes.

Think, for example, about the sculpture Vault. In 1978, this new public sculpture was the subject of ferocious public debate in Melbourne. Most people know this work as 'The Yellow Peril'; the name it was given in a tabloid campaign against it. Originally dismissed as a confusing eyesore, Vault is now recognised as a significant work of public art and is being heritage listed. Vault has been moved multiple times; now it stands outside the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. How that artwork was understood changed over time.

This also happens with statues of public figures. If you consider all of human history, you will find that humans like pulling statues down as much as they like putting them up.

In 2003, a large statue of Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, was pulled over in downtown Baghdad. What the statue meant had changed, and it was not wanted in downtown Baghdad anymore. A statue of Edward Colston, a 17^th century slave trader and philanthropist, was pulled down, defaced and rolled into the Bristol Harbour in England in 2020. It could have been removed differently and preserved as a historical relic and learnt from, but that is not what happened. Across the United States, in the wake of the 2020 murder of African–American man George Floyd by police, roughly 170 statues of Confederate figures were removed, mostly by local governing bodies who were being prudent. In every case, something had changed since the statue was placed where it was.

When I think of the statue of William Crowther, I think of a terrible thing William Crowther was involved in. I think of the mutilation of William Lanne. I think of how that act was received when it happened in 1869. I think of how it that act came to symbolise the ways the colony treated Palawa people.

Many other people disturbed graves and desecrated bodies. But there are not statues of these other people, and there was one of William Crowther. Because of this, the statue itself became symbolic of more than the man himself. I know there is more to the life of William Crowther, but I'm not really even thinking about William Crowther the person (which parallels the way William Crowther did not consider that William Lanne was human). I'm thinking about all the terrible things that happened, and how they continue to happen.

And I'm not a Palawa person.

Now this is important. I write about art, and I think about art. But different people view art in different ways, and those ways can radically differ, depending on who the person is. And those understandings can exist at the same time. My understanding is informed by my life as a descendant of colonists. When I grew up in Tasmania, I was told – taught in school – that there were no Palawa people, that they were all gone, and it was 'very sad' and when I asked what happened, I got differing stories; I was told 'they were dying out anyway' or 'they all got colds' or something like that.

I found out it was not true. It was confronting and uncomfortable. It still is. And all of this informs how I understand the statue of William Crowther.

For a very, very long time, the voice of Palawa people was silenced and erased: the colony claimed it didn't exist. But if we want to know how it feels for Palawa people to perceive the statue of Crowther, we can simply listen. I had thought of Crowther's act as a horrible thing that was in the past, but the past can be terrifyingly and uncomfortably present, depending on your experience. The statue is not simply a statue of one person whose moral standing can be debated in an esoteric, arbitrary system of weights and measures. It is a symbolic representation of an extended colonial project that violently assaulted everything about Tasmanian Aboriginal people. That assault continues.

The previous stage of the Crowther Reinterpreted project presented four very different art works that responded to the Crowther statue. Artists chose to change the statue, hide the statue, ignore the statue and focus on William Lanne instead, or ask people in Franklin Square what they thought was hidden (this work was made while the Crowther statue was removed from view by a box enclosure, which was another artwork¹).

The Crowther Reinterpreted project created a space for dialogue around the statue's meaning, relevance and location. The Council found that the population of Hobart preferred the statue be moved to another location, a decision that was publicly announced and then appealed. This appeal was heard – as it should have been – but bureaucratic process delayed the statue's removal. Ultimately, the decision to move the statue was upheld. The night before this decision was made, the statue was toppled by persons unknown.

The process of engaging with artists, creating public conversation, and giving space and focus for comment by the Palawa community through the creation of new artworks, is an important achievement in itself. It may be an entirely unique project. Nipaluna has created a powerful new way of considering what a statue means and helping the rest of the world think about its statues. Change is hard; listening to the truth is hard, yet it is how communities mature and become stronger. There is history yet to be written, and our great privilege now is to do so.

¹ The video work was particularly interesting as it worked as a loose survey of people who visited Franklin Square, and again, what it revealed was a range of opinions and reactions. Artworks and statues are rarely one thing.

When was Allan's artwork on display?

Allan's artwork was the first to be displayed as part of the Crowther Interpretation project. Truth Telling was displayed in April – June 2021.

What do the different components of the Allan's artwork mean?

Each component of the work has been carefully considered to symbolise various aspects of the story of William Lanne and of William Crowther's actions against Lanne in the 1860s.

Allan's artwork temporarily transforms William Crowther into a memorial for William Lanne. His head and hands are coated in red, and he holds an Aboriginal flag in one hand, a saw in the other and has a bone at his feet. Allan has also covered up the text on the statue with an explanation of Crowther's actions against Lanne.

Following is from Allan's statement for the artwork:
"The representation of the red hands and red head is the decapitation of head and hands.
The flag represents the strength of the Aboriginal people of Lutriwita.
The bone represents Coorinna (the Tasmanian Tiger), again abused and driven out by the colonists. It calls the tiger to come collect the bone, take it away, bury it.... Come and collect your statue! Whoever!"

What materials is Allan's installation made of?

The red head is a flexible vinyl printed with an image of Lanne's face. The red hands are a rubberised red paint. The Aboriginal flag is fixed to an aluminium pole. The bone is representative and is actually a cow bone.

Will Allan's installation leave any damage to the statue?

All of the materials and processes have been selected to be easily removable. For example, the vinyl is the same as that used on car and bus wraps and is made with a low "tack" to ensure ease of removal and the rubberised paint has been selected for its ability to be peeled away cleanly at the end of the installation.

The film component of this work can be viewed on The Whaler's Tale page.

When was Greg and Roger's artwork on display?

The Lanney Pillar was the second temporary artwork in the Crowther Reinterpretation project. It was displayed from June to August 2021 in Franklin Square.

What does the artwork mean?

Roger Scholes and Greg Lehman have created the artwork to share an "alternative narrative" about the story of William Crowther and William Lanne. Through presenting evocative imagery, historical records, and a film, they share what is known about the life of William Lanne; who he was, his relationship to Country and the facts of events that followed his death.

Roger Scholes and Greg Lehman's Artist Statement

THE LANNEY PILLAR

The life of Aboriginal Tasmanian William Lanney [1835-1869] has been overshadowed by what happened to him after his death. Few of us know anything about his extraordinary life.

A statue of the man who stole his remains from the Hobart morgue is perhaps the only public icon that may lead us to Lanney's story. The statue of that man - William Crowther - erected by his colleagues with the blessing of the British Crown, now stands in Hobart's Franklin Square along with that of King Edward VII and Sir John Franklin, Governor of Tasmania [1786 - 1847].

But nothing of Lanney's life or death is marked on Crowther's statue. You would have to dig into the archives or online to find out about the remarkable events of Lanney's life - a life which offers deep insights for us today into the turmoil C19th Van Diemen's Land - Tasmania - lutruwita.

William Lanney was one of the last Tasmanian Aboriginal children born on the traditional Country of their ancestors. In 1842 Lanney and his family were exiled by the Governor to Wybalenna on Flinders Island.

As a young man, Lanney joined the crews of the whaling ships sailing the Southern Ocean to Chile and beyond. Lanney's shipmates called him 'King Billy'. In 1867 he sailed to England to meet Queen Victoria and later in Hobart he met with the Duke of Edinburgh, advocating for his people.

Lanney was an independent man, respected by the people of Hobart Town who lined the streets for his funeral. When Dr. William Crowther snatched his body from the morgue, Lanney's dignity was also stolen - by a scoundrel whose statue still stands before you. Where is the memorial to Lanney's extraordinary life?

This Pillar offers the public an alternative narrative, seeking to reclaim the story of Lanney's life from under the cloak of the scoundrel Crowther up there on his bronze statue next door.

Images of Lanney's life on the rear of the Pillar tell of his connection to his country, his exile and his whaling life.

The Lanney Pillar has a 3 minute movie evocation of Lanney the countryman, his exile and whaling life, in Pillar viewer box.

The QR coded 12 minute film The Whaler's Tale that can be viewed online tells his extraordinary story and the absurd reasons Europeans like Crowther had for stealing Tasmanian Aboriginal bones for their English masters in London.

Why are there different spelling of Lanne and Lanney?

William Lanne was known by many names. There are multiple references in history to different spelling of William Lanne's surname including Lanne, Lanney and Lanny. His traditional name is not known, and he was given the European name of William when he was seven years old. Many Aboriginal names have multiple spelling due to errors in records and historical interpretations.

What materials is Roger and Greg's sculpture made of?

The sculpture is a free-standing timber structure that is fixed securely in the ground at its base. The artists have used timber, glass, paint, and print. The sculpture includes a solar-powered LED screen displaying a short film. A QR is visible on the sculpture's base and can be scanned to view the full version of the film online.

Will Roger and Greg's installation damage the statue of Crowther?

No. The sculpture will stand nearby to the statue of Crowther.

How can I view the full version of the film, The Whaler's Tale?

The sculpture includes a solar-powered LED screen displaying a short film played on a loop. The film is a 4-minute excerpt of a longer film created by the artists called The Whaler's Tale. The full version of the film can be viewed online by scanning the QR code displayed on the sculpture's base or at the end of the film. Alternatively, the film can be viewed on The Whaler's Tale page. The film will also be displayed on the City of Hobart's digital art platform, The Loop, for the duration of the installation period. Screening times can be viewed on The Loop website.

The Whaler's Tale

Does the film show real footage of William Lanney?

Film-maker, Roger Scholes, and academic, Greg Lehman, call the film, The Whaler's Tale, an 'evocation' of William Lanny's life. They have used a combination of historical records and images as well as film footage and music from contemporary sources and storytelling to create an artistic interpretation of what life might have been like for William Lanney. While the film includes some historical records of Lanney, including his portrait, the events of William Lanney's life took place in a time when film was not available. The footage that appears in the film is from Roger Scholes' career as a Tasmanian filmmaker and has been used to illustrate aspects of William Lanney's life.

The downloadable component of this work can be viewed on the BREATHING SPACE page.

When was Julie's artwork on display?

BREATHING SPACE is the third temporary artwork in the Crowther Reinterpretation project. It was displayed from September 1 to end of October 2021 in Franklin Square.

What does the artwork mean?

BREATHING SPACE is an intervention that disrupts the statue of Dr William Lodewyk Crowther within Franklin Square, and in doing so temporarily creates a break for those pained by its presence. This is Julie's artist statement for this project:

Encased, crated and covered, the statue of William Lodewyk Crowther and its laudatory plaque is finally, albeit temporarily, removed from view. The man was monstrous. His legacy is Aboriginal grieving, which still persists in his and his progenies wake; infamously efficient body-snatchers much celebrated by the citizens of Hobart. Let us use this time of relief, protected from his arrogant gaze, to realise we don't need to see the face of evil to know it is always there, haunting and testing the measure of society.

What materials is Julie's sculpture made of?

Julie's work is made of stained plywood. Metal straps are used to hold the plinth cover in place.

Will Julie' installation damage the statue of Crowther?

The work has been designed to simply sit in place around the existing statue, using protective material at any of the points where it touches the stone of the statue. The box will not actually touch the bronze of the statue, it will simply encase it.

The film component of this work can be viewed on Something Missing page.

When was Jillian's work on display?

Something Missing was the fourth temporary artwork in the Crowther Reinterpretation project. It was displayed from 18 November 2021 until the middle of January 2022 in Franklin Square.

What does the artwork mean?

Jillian Mundy has collaborated with Troy Melville to make a film that is predominantly comprised of vox pop style interviews with users of Franklin Square who pass by the Crowther statue on a regular basis. The following is her artist statement about the work:

Immortalising individuals who have done terrible things is not good practice by most people's standards in 2021. Many colonial statues are offensive, some more than others. This is the case of the statue of Crowther in Franklin Square - a statue on a massive pedestal - yet details of his gory deeds are missing, just like much of lutruwita's (Tasmania's) history. Do people that go into that park know who he is? Do they care? Would they even notice if he is missing? Do they want the statue gone? Are they ashamed of missing history?

Something Missing explores answers to these questions from people who pass through the park every day and the work will continue, or perhaps hasten, the conversation about what we do with these chunks of metal.

What materials is the work made of?

With the exception of an added side panel, some water proofing and one can of paint, the viewing enclosure is made with repurposed materials - a former promotional recycling box from the Hobart Airport. It was repurposed with the assistance of the Karadi Men's Shed and is weighed down with used containers from Unpacked in Kingston.

Who were the people interviewed?

Jillian spoke with around 100 people who use the public spaces near the statue in vox pops style interviews. They were asked if they were happy to be filmed answering questions about the park. No interviews were prearranged, nor was anyone invited to the park. All conversations were voluntary and Jillian turned up a range of times throughout the day. While not all recorded footage was included, responses that differed from the film makers were gratefully received as part of the work.

Over 5 years the City of Hobart has delivered a multi-stage public art project that addresses the legacy of the William Crowther monument in Franklin Square through community engagement, temporary artworks, Council decisions, heritage assessments, planning approvals and a Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal appeal process.

Stage 4 is the final stage of the project. It presents a permanent interpretive response that recontextualises the former William Crowther statue through written works and the installation of a new garden in Franklin Square.

On 15 August 2022 the Council recommended the bronze component of the William Crowther statue be removed, and that a new interpretive commission be developed for the site nearby.

On 26 May 2025 the Council approved the methodology for Stage Four of the project – commissioning written works and a design for a permanent interpretation response adjacent to the plinth.

The aim of the work is to create a space for truth-telling, reflection and learning.

Based on a Council-approved methodology, three writers were commissioned, through an expression of interest (EOI) process, to produce both a short and a long work, each focusing on one of three topics:

• Nunami Sculthorpe Green – William Lanne and life for Palawa people in the 1860s
• Alison Alexander – William Crowther and colonial life in the 1860s
• Andrew Harper – on statues and their role and meaning in contemporary society

The works were reviewed by an editor and peers for historical and cultural accuracy.

Taylor + Hinds Architects were commissioned via an EOI and shortlist process to design a form to carry the three short texts.

Informal and formal consultation was conducted during Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the project with feedback helping to shape the future of the statue and the final interpretation response. This included:

• a City of Hobart survey ran for 11 months (April 2021 to February 2022) alongside the public artworks in stage 1.
• informal consultation occurred after February 2022 for several months with a series of one-on-one conversations seeking options for a permanent response on the site. Then formal consultation occurred from May 2022 to July 2022.
• a further period of public engagement occurred during March 2023 for the proposed addendum to the Franklin Square Conservation Plan.
• general correspondence regarding the project has also been gathered and archived.

Stage 4 is the synthesis of the project's truth‑telling, consultation, decision-making, and physical transformation.

It provides an enduring public installation that explains the site's significance, the story of William Lanne and the legacy of the William Crowther statue.

The interpretation takes the form of a circular garden in the western corner of Franklin Square.

The garden surrounds the plinth, with a dense planting of Everlasting Daisy (Chrysocephalum apiculatum), interspersed with ground creeping Running Postman (Kennedia Prostrata) and Kangaroo Grasses (Themeda Triandra).

Defining the perimeter of the garden is a bronze ring that holds the three short texts. The circular nature of the ring requires people to move through and around it, so people actively engage with the text and the space.

The City of Hobart engaged a materials conservator to establish how the bronze statue would be removed and stored. The statue forms part of the City's Valuables Collection and is being stored and maintained according to conservator advice.

The City of Hobart has a Memorials Policy which provides a management framework for the establishment, maintenance, removal or relocation of memorials on land or assets owned, managed or leased by the City. The policy encompasses statues, plaques, memorial tree planting and furniture incorporating memorials.

Requests to remove statues are reviewed as per the Memorials Policy.

Memorials Policy(PDF, 186KB)