The Mercury Newspaper, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 16 July 1920 (http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/24275853#)
TRUE DESCENDANTS.
That the Bass Strait islanders are the true descendants is indisputable. With perhaps a few exceptions, which does
not alter the position, a few may have descended from the Australian aboriginal. I think the proof that these
islanders are the real descendants of the Tasmanian aboriginal is the following extract from Bishop Nixon's "Cruise
of the Beacon" (1854):
"Gun-Carriage Island. - As we went from house to house (Mr. Power, who had visited the island some years ago,
being our guide), we came at last to the residence of the 'Greatest Lady' it has ever been my good fortune to en-
counter, Lucy Beadon. A noble-looking half-caste of 25 years of age, bearing the burden of 23 stone, good humoured and kind hearted, she is everyone's friend upon the island.
High minded, and earnest in her Christian profession, she has set herself to work to do good in her generation,
from pure love of those around her. She daily gathers together the children of the sealers, and does her best to
impart to them the rudiments of secular and religious knowledge. In the afternoon I baptised six children, all half-
caste. One of them, a boy of two years of age, was a magnificent little fellow, his large full black eyes, and finely
formed features, would have done honour to any parentage. Soon after the administration of the Sacrament I
united an old sealer, Edward Mansell, to Judy Thomas, an aboriginal woman. The names of the sealers living on
Gun-Carriage Island in 1830, are:- Thomas Bailey, age 52; John Riddle 47; James Thompson, 32; William Procter, 39;
Thomas Tucker, 40; Edward Mansell,
alias, Sydney, 40; John Mirey, 30;
Charles Peterson, 45; William Stock, 31;
William Johnson, 20; John Smith, 45;
Richard Maynard, 40; John Beadon, 45."
Most of these were married to, or living with Tasmanian aboriginals, and the descendants are still living on the
Islands.