Tasmanian Aborigines and DNA

Abstract

The hyper-variable control region (HVI and HVII) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from Tasmanians with an unbroken, direct Tasmanian Aboriginal maternal lineage were DNA sequenced. The lineage dates back to the early 1800s, as evidenced by published family genealogies (Mollison 1978, Ryan 1981, Plomley 1966, 1971, 1987, 1990). Of the five distinct mtDNA haplotypes discovered, VI was found in living Tasmanian descendants traced back to a Port Phillip Aboriginal woman who lived with European sealers in Bass Strait. Haplotype T2 is two nucleotide transitions removed from 1/WD 2 of van Holst Pellekaan et al. 1998 and therefore related to this Australian mainland Aboriginal mtDNA haplotype. Vestiges of Tasmanian maternal mtDNA haplotypes from before white settlement, passing down through up to eight generations, still survive in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Aboriginal people are related and relatable to mainland Aboriginal people.