Mathinna (1835 – 1856) was an indigenous Australian girl, who was adopted and later abandoned by the Governor of Tasmania, Sir John Franklin.
Mathinna was born as Mary on Flinders Island, Tasmania to the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, Towgerer, and his wife Wongerneep but the tribe was captured by Robinson, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, in 1833. Mary was renamed Mathinna when adopted by Governor Sir John Franklin, an Arctic explorer, and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin, and was raised with Sir John's daughter Eleanor.
When Sir and Lady Franklin returned to England, they left Mathinna at Queen’s Orphan School in Hobart in 1843. Only eight years old, she found it difficult to adjust to her new surroundings. She was sent back to Flinders Island in 1844, at the age of nine, and then sent back to Queen's Orphan School.
Mathinna thereafter had problems with alcohol, which was common in indigenous people of the time. She had become unpopular with the aboriginals because of her liking for the white-skinned culture, and her desperate need for more wealth. As her drinking continued, she drowned -- according to one account -- in a puddle while drunk in 1856 as she left a white settler's cottage.[1] She was only 21 years old.
The town of Mathinna is named after her.
Mathinna's life has inspired or been mentioned in several literary and dramatic works. These include:
