MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Re-editing a “civilization experiment” involving Chile, England and Falklands

In 1830 British captain Robert Fitz-Roy kidnapped four Yaghan children

The story of an indigenous boy from the extreme south of Chile captured and taken to England, and who years later faced trial in Falklands, plays out this week in a Santiago theatre.

In 1830, British captain Robert Fitz-Roy kidnapped four Yaghan children from a tribe in far southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego and brought them to England to be educated.

The oldest was a 14-year-old boy, renamed Jemmy Button, referring to the button made of Mother of Pearl, which is what Fitz-Roy paid for him.

Jemmy Button’s life story will be performed by Tryo Teatro Banda, starting April 8, in the Catholic University theatre.

Fitz-Roy, captain of the HMS Beagle, took the four children to England “to become useful as interpreters, and be the means of establishing a friendly disposition towards Englishmen on the part of their countrymen.”

The English transformed Button completely. He cut his hair, wore a suit and tie and even met King William IV and learned English and Mechanics.

Three years later, Jemmy returned to Wulaia, where, after an initial culture shock, he soon became his old self: long haired, half naked and un-groomed. The cricket games, tea sets and other British paraphernalia he had brought with him provoked little interest among his people.

The play also includes Charles Darwin as a character. Darwin was on board with Jemmy Button when he returned to Chile.

“We are interested in addressing the conflict between creationism and Darwin’s theory of evolution and how many tribes were wiped out under the pretence of progress,” said Francisco Sanchez, director of the theatre group.

The play will show how Button loses his Western trappings rapidly after returning to his tribe and how the “civilization experiment” had failed.

The story then jumps 20 years ahead, when priest George Pakenham Despard wants to start another “civilization experiment” and asks Jemmy Button for his help. Button declines and in 1859 was accused of killing eight missionaries. Later, a court on the Falklands/Malvinas Islands finally frees him.

By Loretta van der Horst – Santiago Times