TAS: Tasmanians encouraged to share their stories in bicentenary

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2003
TAS: Tasmanians encouraged to share their stories in bicentenary

By Libby Sutherland

HOBART, Dec 11 AAP - Tasmania's bicentenary was an opportunity for deeper consideration
of the state's history, both good and bad, Premier Jim Bacon said today.

Unveiling a program of events for 2004, he said the early years of white settlement
were not all auspicious.

Lieutenant John Bowen set up camp at Risdon Cove on the eastern shore of the Derwent
River in September 1803.

However, Tasmania has opted to celebrate its bicentenary from February 2004, 200 years
after Lieutenant Colonel David Collins raised the flag at what is now Hobart's docks on
the other side of the river.

The later date was chosen because Risdon was not only a brief and shambolic occupation,
but also the site of an Aboriginal massacre.

Mr Bacon said the bicentenary program - themed "Celebrate Your Story" - had been developed
in consultation with the Aboriginal community to ensure it was sensitive to and inclusive
of the facts.

"It has always been my intention that the marking of this bicentenary be an opportunity
for deeper thought and consideration about a number of issues, including what it means
to be a Tasmanian, about the legacy that we have inherited, both good and bad, and about
the legacy that we are leaving to our children and the subsequent generations," he said.

"2004 marks a time when we can consider that past 200 years and examine what it is
that we've done well and what it is that we could have done better."

Mr Bacon invited all Tasmanians to look back, reflect and celebrate their stories during
the coming year.

Tasmanian Governor Richard Butler said history was too often a chronology of events,
usually of a military kind.

"There is available in Tasmania a history in the true sense of the word - a collection
of stories, stories of individuals, families, men, women and children who made this place
what it is today and continue to live out their stories in the Tasmania of the 21st century,"

he said.

"I think that is what 2004 should be about.

"It should be a time of remembering the things that have gone before us so that we
can be better informed as we shape our future."

Included in the myriad events planned for 2004 is a musical version of the colonial
classic, For the Term of His Natural Life, a bicentenary cattle drive, and an exhibition
of works by renowned landscape artist John Glover, which will also tour to Adelaide, Canberra
and Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Sydneysiders will be treated to an exhibition of contemporary Tasmanian
works, dubbed Design Island, at the Sydney Opera House in March.

Tasmania is the second state in Australia to mark its bicentenary, with NSW hosting
the national celebration in 1988.

AAP las/tma/br

KEYWORD: BICENTENARY

2003 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.