62 NOTES ON THE LAST LIVING ABORIGINAL OF TASMANIA. 



A point of some importance in tlie contention would arise 

 from Fanny's second name of Cochrane. Accoi'ding to 

 Bonwick, in liis "Last of the Tasmanians," p. 282, this was 

 taken from the sealer wlio lived with Sarah, whose name was 

 Cottrel Cochrane. Were this so, it would have at once have 

 gone far to settle the question of parentage, and show her to be 

 the half-caste supposed. BonTvick is obviously in error in his 

 statement ; for I have lately ascertained from the lips of a 

 married lady living in Hobart, a daughter of the late Mr. 

 Robert Clark, catechist at the aborigines establishment, that 

 Cochrane was the maiden name of her mother, and that it 

 was given by her father to Fanny when a child, and residing 

 in his family. 



Again, Bonwick writes (p. 310) : " We read of a sawyer, 

 one Smith, and his black friend, Mrs. Fanny Cochrane 

 Smith, receiving £25 a year for their half-caste child." Instead 

 of "black friend" he might have written "black wife " ; for 

 the parties were duly married at Hobart by the Eev. Frederick 

 Miller, Congi'egational minister, in 1854. As respects the 

 cause assigned for the annuity, this writer was also in error, 

 for the sum of .£24 (not £25) was bestowed upon Fanny on 

 the occasion of her marriage, and not for the reason stated. 



The next document is a letter, dated 8th December, 1842, 

 conveying the ofi&cial approval of the admission into the 

 Queen's Orphan School of the three aboriginal children named 

 in the margin — Fanny, Martha, Jesse. 



Then follows in the records, under same date, an apjDlication 

 from Mr. Eobert Clark, late catechist of the aborigines on 

 Flinders Island, for permission to receive into his family " an 

 aboriginal child named Fanny, upon his engagement to feed, 

 clothe, and educate her as one of his own children." 



Next is an extract from an oflB.cial document dated 8th 

 March, 1847 : — "Eugene and his wife, the father and mother 

 of Fanny and Adam, being asked if they were willing 

 that their children should be sent back to Mr. Clark, said 

 they were not. Fanny being asked if she understood the 

 nature of an oath, answered, ' No,' and the Doctor explained 

 it. Fanny said she did not wish to return to Mr. Clark." 



From a long rejDort to the Government by Dr. Milligan, 

 dated JSTovember 29th, 1847, I have taken the following 

 extract : — " The fifth girl, Fanny Cochrane, almost a woman, 

 might remain with her half-sister, Mary Ann. Indeed I can 

 scarcely say how otherwise she could be satisfactorily disposed 

 of." There being no difference of opinion as to Sarah being 

 the mother of both, this testimony, given by Dr. Milligan as 

 to a difference of parentage in the case of the father, at once 

 discriminates her from Mary Ann, and in itself affords a strong 

 presumption in favour of the contention. 



