Ara-maida: Tasmanian Woman and Child in Kangaroo Pouch

Nicolas-Martin Petit (1777-1804), Terre de Diemen : Arra - Maida, copper-plate engraving from the Baudin Expedition 'Voyages de Decouvertes...', Paris, 1807, 31.5 x 24 cm. A portrait of the Tasmanian woman Ara-maida of Bruny Island, with her child slung across her back in a kangaroo-skin pouch. Arra-maida is one of the best known of any of the Tasmanian aborigines met by the French. When they were on Bruny Island they met a group of women with whom they began a lively exchange. The women 'listened attentively when surgeon Bellefin sang them a song which was applauded by them all, and then mimicked by one of them, whom Peron called Arra-maida. She added a song and a dance of her own and then applied charcoal-powder to the faces of Peron and Heirisson'. Her actions certainly troubled the French - Peron was quite critical of her 'indecent' dancing.