Recovered Aboriginal songs offer clues to 18th century mystery of the shipwrecked 'white woman'
- Written by Stephen Morey, Senior Lecturer, Department of Languages and Linguistics, La Trobe University
An image of the landscape around Bairnsdale in the late-18th century. D. R Long (Daniel Rutter), between 1856 and 1883. State Library of Victoria
In 1846 Melbourne was gripped by a panic: a story had spread that a white woman had been shipwrecked off the coast of Gippsland and was living with Aboriginal people. “Expeditions” were sent...