Healthy Buildings of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Peoples

This article will describe the interiors of the traditional buildings of the Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples or palawa, constructed prior to and in the early years of European colonization in Tasmania. Both the health properties of the artifacts found inside the buildings and the materials used in the construction of these buildings will be described. The hypothesis proposed by this article suggests that palawa health strategies were closely linked to buildings and their materiality. The discussion will be supported by an outline of the disastrous health profile of the palawa peoples when they were relocated from mainland Tasmania to an island off the coast called Flinders Island, where they resided in European-style accommodation at a place called Wybalenna. This article reveals for the first time that the buildings of the palawa peoples not only satisfied architectural mediation of environmental conditions, but may have also been closely associated with palawa health strategies.