Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Wauba Debar's Grave, Bicheno, Tasmania





Wauba Debar (1792 -1832) was a teenage Aboriginal girl when she and other young women were kidnapped by sealers and whalers for sex partners during the European colonisation of Tasmania.


The union with her husband must have been a happy one because she risked her life to save him. A very strong swimmer, she swam one kilometer out to sea during a raging storm and brought first her husband, then another sealer safely to shore after their ship was wrecked.

Local settlers raised funds in 1855 to erect the headstone on her grave in recognition of her bravery.


It overlooks Waubs Bay and Warbs Harbour both which were named after her, and is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage list.







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