Towterer

Towterer (c.1800 – 30 September 1837) was a leading Aboriginal Tasmanian man of the Ninine clan from south-western Tasmania. He was part of the last group of Ninine to continue living a traditional lifestyle on the Tasmanian mainland before their forced transportation to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island in 1833. One of his daughters was Mathinna who was sent to live with Sir John Franklin and Lady Jane Franklin.

Early life Towterer was born around 1800 into the Ninine clan of Aboriginal Tasmanians of the southwestern region. His father was a prominent tribal leader named Loomerer and his mother was Lywelopeh. The country of his people extended from Port Davey in the south to Point Hibbs on the west coast of Tasmania.

Towterer's people lived a mostly coastal existence, where the men would hunt local birds and mammals, while the women would dive for abalone and crayfish. They made catamarans to journey to offshore islands such as Hobbs Island to hunt seals and seabirds. They also made intricate bird traps and would supplement their diet with kelp, local herbs and kangaroo apple. Their huts were distinctively warm and neat semi-circular constructions called gardown made with a framework of bent branches covered in a thatch of grass and the internal walls insulated with paperbark and feathers. Their major settlements were at Port Davey, Lowgernown, Point Hibbs and Nomeme near the Giblin River. The Ninine cremated their dead.

Towterer's body was autopsied and decapitated by Robinson, who kept the skull as part of his natural history collection. Towterer's skull was one of a number of Indigenous skulls that were later taken from Wybalenna by Europeans and used for pseudo-scientific analysis.

Towterer is a character in two historical fiction books, Wanting and Gould's Book of Fish by the author Richard Flanagan.