Rare soldier's diary reveals secret massacre of Indigenous Tasmanians after almost 200 years SunSunday 27 updated MonMonday 28 DecDecember 2020 at 2:29am McNally's diary is the only account by an "ordinary soldier" of life in the penal colonies, says Professor Sharpe. ( Print text only Cancel A soldier's diary disintegrating in Ireland's national library has revealed disturbing evidence of an undocumented massacre of Aboriginal people in Tasmania in the colony's early years. The diary belonged to Private Robert McNally, posted to Van Diemen's Land in the 1820s, and records in gritty detail co...