Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The inscribed white headstone with little information, and the ageing wrought iron fence that shelters it from the world around it.
The site itself is Tasmania's smallest state park, and the body thought to be marked by it is of a growing Tasmanian legend.
Over the past two instalments of trying to work out exactly who Debar was have presented more questions than answers.
Historians have remained uncertain about who she was, with one believing she was a strong swimming Aboriginal woman whose legend had simply grown. The man who paid for the headstone was famed at the time for staving off a group of Aboriginal people at his farm, and his headstone is inscribed as having conquered a whole "tribe".
The story, no doubt, gives insight into Tasmanian colonial times and what have come to be known as the Vandemonian Wars or the Black War.
Both Debar, and the man who paid for her headstone John Allen operated about the time of bloody battles between colonial settlers and the already present Aboriginal communities. Debar's headstone is inscribed as her having died aged 40 in 1832, and Allen was of a similar age.
A train of thought is that paying for Debar's headstone was an act of recompense for act perpetrated by Allen against the Aboriginal community, but nobody can be sure. The common belief is that Debar was the strongest swimmer in the land, evidenced by her saving two sealers who came into trouble off the coast of Waubs Bay at Bicheno. One of those sealers was believed to be her husband.
Although there are almost identical legendary historical stories told in the Western Australia, NSW and New Zealand. Stories of an imperilled native woman saving the lives of even more imperilled colonisers. The story is not new, but nobody canbe sure Debar's story is the first, if it is even unique, or if it even happened at all.
But Debar's memorial is the only known gravestone erected to a Tasmanian Aboriginal at the time.
What is thought is that after saving the two men she was part of an Aboriginal group that was tracked down by white men and most of them killed. It seems clear Debar met an untimely death. And it seems clear Allen, and later a descendent, felt responsible enough for her death they felt it necessary to commemorate her life.
What is known is the grave was exhumed, and the remains taken to the Tasmanian Museum before a protest by the Bicheno community saw most of them returned in 1985.
Such is the legend of Debar's exploits they captured the attention of fellow legendary Tasmanian swimming star Shane Gould.
Gould now runs an annual Devil of a Swim event at Bicheno to remember Debar, and educate the community about water safety.
"When you come to the end of the story, what we do know is the white people respected her. The two sealers she was with ... they respected and trusted her enough to put their lives in her hands," she said.
"I wanted her story to be recalled and known. [As part of the swim] we make sure the people who come are reminded that there have been other people in the water before them and one of those was Wauba Debar.
"But we'll never really know all the details. We don't know how far off shore it happened. Did the boat full sink? How big was the boat? What were the weather conditions? What was her swimming style? There's all those questions,. You could almost make up a story of the details."
- This is the third part of a series exploring the mystery of Wauba Debar. Questions still remain unanswered. If anybody has any further information about Wauba Debar, please contact b.duggan@examiner.com.au. Of particular interest is anyone with a connection to John Allen or his descendant Edith Allen.
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: