Aboriginal Connection

The Tarkiner People – the Aboriginal Connection

Firstly, we pay respect to the traditional and original owners of the Tarkine, the Tasmanian Aboriginal groups who called this place home… we pay respect to those that have passed before us and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land.

For 40,000 years the Tarkine has been home to the Tasmanian Aboriginal tarkiner people who inhabited the Sandy Cape region of this island’s wild west coast. The name Tarkine means belonging to, or of the tarkiner. The Aboriginal community know it as (‘tar-keen-nee’) and continue a strong cultural connection to this special place today.

Tarkine Aboriginal Connection

The Tarkine is a cultural landscape – a place of very special meaning

The Tarkine represents a highly valued landscape, rich in natural and cultural heritage. When you visit the Tarkine, please respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners, past and present…. tread carefully knowing that the Tarkine is a cultural landscape – a place of very special meaning… it holds testament of a sophisticated community… one that still belongs here.

Stone tools, ancient campfire sites, and massive shell middens (piles of food waste like oyster shells) are testament to the millenia of continuous occupation of the sites.