This letter holds the clue to the mystery of The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie. How easily, indeed, can a figure be changed into a totally different picture.

Just who is Geoffrey Middleton?
And are the 'lost diamonds' just the pieces of green topaz?
Is this a work of fact or fiction?

In this picture book for older readers, text and illustration are inextricably intertwined in a unique blend of truth and imagination to create a modern legend about past times.

"I will never forget my first sight of Flinders; the turquoise sea, the shimmering gold of the beaches, the haunting grey green of the bush. But it was the mountains that made me catch my breath. A range of peaks ran the length of the island, as stark and weathered as the fossilised backbone of some prehistoric beast."

Flinders Island is part of the Furneaux Group which straddles Latitude 40ºS, right in the path of the Roaring Forties. To the east, the Tasman Sea stretches uninterrupted for hundreds of kilometres until it reaches the coast of New Zealand, while a journey westwards would take you south of the Cape of Good Hope and across the Atlantic to Argentina. It is indeed an isolated place.
How do the location and its isolation add to the atmosphere of the story?
How do they influence the telling of the tale?
Which came first - the setting or the story?

Look at all the illustrations of the Flinders landscape.
Can you get a feel for the place without having to read the text?
How does Gouldthorpe create this?
What can you learn about the climate, geology and topography of the island from the pictures?
How would you describe the landscape?
Write a word picture of the setting and try to convey the sorts of things that Gouldthorpe has portrayed in his pictures.
What does the saying 'a picture tells a thousand words' mean?

Lex Bowman, the Whitemark shopkeeper, has asked you to create a brochure about Flinders Island that will help to attract tourists to the area.
What sort of information would you need to include?

Locate and use these sites to create a publication that emphasises the island's unique location and attractions.
Flinders - An Island For All Seasons .
Tour of Tasmania: Flinders Island
Flinders Island
About Flinders Island
Tasmanian Adventures

When you have completed your brochure, email it as an attachment to Judith Blundstone who is the co-ordinator of the Flinders Online Centre. She will arrange for them to be displayed.

Geoffrey Middleton was able to get to Flinders Island easily and established his camp site with a minimum of equipment.
Would you be able to do the same?
Use the information you have gathered to plan a holiday on Flinders for your family.
When will you go?
How will you get there?
Where will you stay?
What will you do?
What sort of clothes will you need?
How much will it cost?
What other things do you need to consider.
Once you have done all the research, suggest it as a destination for your next family holiday!

Click on the map of Flinders Island to look at a larger version.
Compare it to the map Geoffrey Middleton had in 1969 (p.9)
Are there any obvious changes?

Use the map in the book to locate Whitemark, Wybalenna and Mt Killiecrankie, and then find them on the Flinders Island Map.
What facilities are available for today's tourists in the Whitemark area?
Which would you need to include in your brochure?
Are there any links between modern Whitemark and when Geoffrey Middleton was there?

Read the information about Wybalenna.
Part of it says The National Trust regards Wybalenna as one of the most important historic sites in Australia because of its direct association with the tragic remnants of the Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes.
Using the information from the book, what could you add to this in your brochure so tourists would know how it was associated with the Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes?
Look at the picture of the restored chapel.
Why would this be the only building built in this area in the 1830s to be still standing?

Now find Mt Killiecrankie.
What are the people in the picture doing?
How could you incorporate the story of the Killiecrankie Diamonds into your brochure?

"About 150 years ago this island was used as a dumping ground for blacks from Tasmania. Tasmanian Aborigines, I mean, right? They lived at a place called Wybalenna - that means "Black Man's Houses." It's about halfway between here and Whitemark. It's a horrible, cold place, windy as hell. Anyway, these poor Blacks, they couldn't take it, see, and nearly all of them died and got chucked in the graveyard there. Hundreds of them, they reckon. All in these unmarked graves."

"Not that cemetery near the shearing shed?"

'The chapter 'Going Back a Way' describes the treatment of the Tasmanian Aborigines by 'Victorian do-gooders' such as George Robinson.
What is a 'do-gooder'?
Can you tell what Geoffrey Middleton's attitude is towards them? How?
Do you think that this is also Gary Crew's opinion?
How does the choice of illustrations reinforce this?
How does the chapter reflect or change your opinion about the issue?
Was George Robinson a real person or a representation of a number of people?
How does the account of the fate of the Tasmanian Aborigines compare to what actually happened?

Read the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission entitled Bringing Them Home - The 'Stolen Children" Report and compare the two accounts.
What is the truth?
Could it be that it is the Aboriginal people who are the 'lost diamonds' of the story?

Now read this speech by the Premier of Tasmania Wybalenna Handover

Conduct a debate which explores these two questions:
Were the actions of George Robinson and other government officials at the time wrong?
Should today's generation say 'sorry'?

Look at this painting of Truganini, wife of Wouderry, one of Robinson's most faithful servants. Compare it to this one of Tanleboueyer .
What do you notice about the two ?
Apart from the position of the arms, are there any differences between them?
What does this tell you about the attitude towards Aborigines at the time?
What can you learn about their lives and lifestyles from the pictures?

Compare the illustrations on pages 22 and 25.
Which one affords the Aborigine the greatest dignity? Why?

Why is Truganini so well known?
Investigate the life of a contemporary Aboriginal woman who has made a significant contribution to modern Australia. Write a brief biography using those from the Curriculum Corporation as models. Collate these onto a webpage that could be used by others and send the URL to Palmerston District Primary School so it can be included on the Tall Poppies page.

Can you draw any similarities between the story of the Tasmanian Aborigines and the story of the convicts who came to Australia on the First Fleet?

Brainstorm some appropriate headings such as freedom, treatment, independence, racism, social structure and show the comparisons on a chart.

Was the treatment of the convicts better or worse than that of the Aborigines?

"Diamonds?" I said, remaining cautious. "What? Around here?" ...

"Sure. Mixed up with the gravel, in gullies up on top. Or in the bay. There's plenty left in the bay." ...

"So they died, see, these Blacks, and the couple that was left, well, they got shifted back to Tasmania - but there was something they knew about this place, see, something the white man wanted. Wanted real bad. They reckon you could pick diamonds up off the ground in those days. Unbelievable, hey? But the story goes that these Blacks knew where there were real beauties. green ones. Like emeralds, see?"

The Killiecrankie diamonds were actually a specific gemstone rather than a diamond.
Use one of these sites to investigate both topaz and diamonds and then construct a table that shows the differences between the two.
Compare size, colour, value, formation, chemical makeup, mining techniques and anything else you think is important.
Topaz
Diamond
The Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom:
The Diamond Deception
A Primer of Gemstones

Why is Aaron so protective of the diamonds?
Is there a parallel between 'diamond fever' and gold fever'?
Are the Killiecrankie Diamonds valuable today?
What were they used for in the 1800s?
Where did they go?
What do you think happened to that 'diamond' that did go to the Exhibition?

The key to the location of the Killiecrankie diamonds is on the scrimshaw which you can see in detail on p 57 and p.59.
What tale does it tell?
What is scrimshaw?
How would such an object come to be on Flinders Island?

Use the series of pictures on p 53, 55, 57 and 59 to see how Peter Gouldthorpe has created the scrimshaw.
Choose a key feature of the landscape where you live, draw a map and then roll it in a cone shape.
Does it look like the illustration on p. 57?
What sorts of things do you have to take into consideration to create a picture using this perspective?

Find out more about scrimshaw in Tasmania and then click on the whale's tooth scrimshaw on the left.
What do you think inspired the picture?
Use the picture as a basis for a story of your own.
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Artist Peter Gouldthorpe has used a variety of techniques to create the illustrations .
How many different media can you identify?
Why did he use so many?
How does each medium contribute to the picture's authenticity?
How do the illustrations contribute to the story?
Would it work without the illustrations?

Look at the illustrations on the title page and identify which are real objects and which are from Gouldthorpe's imagination.
How does this collection of objects contribute to the feeling of windswept isolation created in the story?
How has Gouldthorpe used detail and shadow to enhance them?
Why has he done this?
Find a shell or another natural item and draw it from different perspectives.
Can you make it look as real as those created by Gouldthorpe?

Now look at the drawing of the paper nautilus on p.37 and then compare it to the real thing and learn more about this unique creature. There is a nautilus shell at the foot of Aaron's grave.
What is it's significance?
What is the relationship between the headstone on p.11, the empty space surrounding the Wybalenna Chapel and the caption with the photo on p.62?

 

Since its publication, there has been discussion about whether The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie is a work of fact or fiction, and as one reviewer wrote "There is an element of truth in every story. There is a great deal of fiction in every truth."

The book has a unique construction with the crux of the story being in the first few pages before the title page, rather like a television program or movie which has a prologue before the main credits are screened.
So, is The Lost Diamonds of Killiecrankie a work of fact or fiction?
How do you know?
What techniques have been used to create this impression?
What part do the illustrations play in this?
Does the book remind you of the layers of an onion through its many levels of meaning?

If you had the chance to ask Gary Crew or Peter Gouldthorpe one question about this book, what would it be?

Gary will be online on August 25, 2000 so check this website for details of how you will be able to ask him.