“Journal during the expedition against the blacks”: Robert Lawrence's experience on the Black Line

For six weeks in late 1830, Robert Lawrence, a young colonist in Van Diemen’s Land, led a party of ten men on foot from the north to the south of the colony as part of the Black Line. As he went, he kept a journal, recording the day-to-day events of the Line, which provides a glimpse at how this large military operation was carried out by men on the ground. Previously, historians have relied upon accounts collated after the event and on official government dispatches. Lawrence’s account provides an immediate and intimate insight into the realities of his situation and demonstrates why the Line was never destined to become the ‘‘success’’ the government hoped for. Keywords: Black Line; Black War; Aborigines; Van Diemen’s Land; Tasmania