Stuff the British Stole (2022-2024) is a TV documentary series hosted by Australian journalist Marc Fennell. It is a coproduction of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Stuff the British Stole examines a variety of contentions around culturally and historically significant objects that were taken during the dominance of the British Empire. Many of the objects are now subject to demands for repatriation and, in some cases, reparations.

In Season 2, Episode 4, the subject is the theft of a child from her family.

Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) was appointed Lieutenant-Governor or Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1837.

He and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin (1791-1875), stole a 6-year-old Aboriginal child from her family in 1841, renamed her Mathinna and raised her with their own child, Eleanor.

When John Franklin was recalled to London in 1843, Mathinna was abandoned to the Queen’s Orphan School in Hobart.