Summary

Part 4, Chapter 2, or “Mathinna: Government House, Hobart Town, 1840–1841,” began with the Franklins overlooking the date they declared was Mathinna’s ninth birthday. She had overheard Lady Franklin dismissing her birthday celebration as “commemorating the birth date of the family pet” (186). Mathinna spent more time with Sir John than Lady Franklin, playing cribbage and going on garden strolls. One day, Sir John insisted that Mathinna care for a pet cockatoo someone had given him as a gift. He claimed that he could not relate to it the way Mathinna could, nor release it now that it was domesticated. While learning with Eleanor, Lady Franklin requested Mathinna’s presence wearing the red dress to pose for a portrait. Mathinna avoided glimpses of the painting, fearing that her features would be “exaggerated” like the other portraits Lady Franklin kept of Aborigines (190). When the portrait...