William Crowther: A severed statue divides an Australian city

William Lanne's skull was stolen from a Tasmanian morgue more than 150 years ago .

Lanne was touted as the last man on the island, making his remains a twisted trophy for white physicians.

For Lanne ’s descendants, it represents colonial brutality, the myth that Tasmanian Aboriginal people are extinct.

The dismembered statue has become a symbol of a city - and a nation - struggling to reckon with its darkest chapters.

Tasmanian Aboriginal people say they have been fighting to be visible in the history pages and everyday life.

Many feel there are huge swathes of their history missing - or wilfully ignored.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds says the council voted to remove the statue in 2022 "as a commitment to telling the truth of our city's history" The statue's fate divided even Crowther’s living descendants, with some supporting the calls for removal.

Many believe removing or renaming them could be a natural starting point for the "truth-telling" the country needs to reconcile with its First Peoples , the oldest living culture on the planet.

But after a proposal for an Indigenous political advisory body was defeated at a referendum last year , any movement towards a national truth-telling inquiry has stalled - though many states are setting up their own.