George Henry Wing wrote the following letter to the The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times in 1905:

"The First Native White Tasmanian."

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— In your issue of Saturday last you reprinted a par from the Hobart 'Mercury' re the first 'White Tasmanian Native,' in which the informant must have been misinformed. As a colonist of more than 65 years, and also having been acquainted with two of the first white native (male) Tasmanians, as well as many of the first arrivals (free and bond), I submit the following correction for the information of your readers. The fist white child born in Tasmania was a female — I forget the name. I think she was born in the northern part of Tasmania (Norfolk Plains). And with respect to the first white male born in Tasmanian (sic) I know that Mr Geo. A. Kemp (who died at Latrobe some few years ago) told my father that he thought Mr John Hayes, of Bagdad, was the first white male native and Mr Hayes told my father that he thought Mr Kemp was the first. At any rate I believe that one of those two was the first of the white male children born in Tasmania. (They both lived to be octogenarians.) And, with respect to the late Mrs Argent, I sent you a par just after she died giving the date of her birth as she qave it to me, viz., 18th September, 1814, and, as she died on the 4th of April last, she was just a little past 90 1/2 years old. In my letter I stated that her descendants would number nearly (if not quite) 200, which I believe is much nearer the number than the 'Mercury' estimate. — Yours, etc., G. H. Wing. Preston, June 7.

P.S.— There were several other children born of European parents prior to Mrs Argent's birth. Her sister Charlotte, (the late Mrs John Wheatley), was her senior. And I am not sure whether or not her brother, George Kearley, was her senior or not.1

• 1. The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times Thursday 8 June 1905