In recent days, the Hobart City Council has voted 7-4 in favour of removal of the former Premier William Crowther statue located in Franklin Square. The decision was one that has been part of a complex issue, as the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has called repeatedly for the removal of the statue. The calls came after Crowther had been accused of removing Aboriginal man William Lanne’s head in 1869 to take as part of his collection, and replacing the skull with a white mans skull and sealing the skin back over the scalped head in order to hide his doing. 

William Lanne was the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal male.

This skull has been the catalyst of much debate and discourse, the identity of the skull and retrieval of the artefact hotly disputed between the TAC and the University of Edinburgh, who had been housing the alleged Lanne skull for over 100 years.

The TAC has claimed that permission for the repatriation of the skull was granted in 1991, from the University of Edinburgh. However, the claim that the skull was actually that of Lanne’s was disputed by the University, who had continuous doubts over the real identity.

Read more in the Chronicle, August 24 edition.