Threlkeld, L.E., 1834. An Australian Grammar, Comprehending the Principles and Natural Rules of the Language, as Spoken by the Aborigines, in the Vicinity of Hunter's River, Lake Macquarie, &C., New South Wales. Sydney: Printed By Stephens And Stokes, "Herald Office", Lower George-Street. Preface, pp. v-x ------------------------------------------ An Australian Language as spoken by the Awabakal, the People of Awaba or Lake macquarie (near Newcastle, New South Wales), being an account of their Language, Traditions and Customs, by L.E. Threlkeld. Re-arranged, condensed and edited, with an Appendix, by John Fraser, B.A., LL.D., Sydney: Charles Potter, Government Printer, 1892. ---------------------------------- Editor’s preface, v-v [Editor’s] Introduction, xi-lxiv [see JS Framemaker version: Threlkeld AWABAKAL Fraser] Part I of Fraser 1892, ’THE GRAMMAR AND THE KEY’ 1 [Threlkeld, L.E. 1834 An Australian Grammar comprehending the Principles and Natural Rules of the Language, as spoken by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Hunter’s River, Lake Macquarie, &c., New South Wales] Author’s Preface v-x Ch. I: Pronunciation and Orthography, 1 [see JS Framemaker version: Threlkeld AWABAKAL] Ch. II: The Parts of Speech, 9 [see JS Framemaker version: Threlkeld AWABAKAL] Ch. III: Of the Verb, 22 [see JS Framemaker version: Threlkeld AWABAKAL] Ch. IV: Vocabulary, 47 Ch. V: Illustrative Sentences, 65-82 A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language 85 "Author’s Preface, 87-89 "Reminiscences of Biraban 88 "Key, 90-104 (John Fraser omitted 12 pages of affix interpretation he considered unsound) [see JS Framemaker version: Threlkeld AWABAKAL] "Selections from the Scriptures, 104-120 "The Lord’s Prayer 120 Part II: TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPEL BY ST. LUKE 121 "Author’s Preface 125 "Evangelion, 127 -196 Part III: THE LEXICON TO THE GOSPEL BY ST. LUKE 201-227 An Awabakal-English Lexicon of the Gospel According to St. Luke, 197-227 (This Lexicon is incomplete; the author was working on it at the time of his deathy"Ed.) Part IV: THE APPENDIX 1-148 The rest of the Fraser-Threklekd book is appendices of various languages assembled by Fraser, with page numbers recommencing at 1. All are of other languages except of item G: A: Grammar and Vocabulary of the Minyung Dialect 3-27 B: Grammar of the Narrinyeri and other Dialects of S.Aust. 28-47 C: Grammar of a Dialect in Western Australia 48-56 D: Grammar and Vocabulary of the Wiradhari Dialect in N.S.W. 56-120 E: Prayers in the Awabakal Dialect 120-127 F: Sentences in the Kamilarai Dialect 127-131 G. Specimens of a dialect of the aborigines of N.S.W. [Awabakal] 131-148 --------------------------------------- Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (1788-1859) was and English Congregational missionary and Congregational minister. Aged 20 he married Martha Goss, and had five children. In 1814 he became a candidate missionary with the (London) Missionary Society (LMS) and in left for the South Seas in January 1816. On the death of his first child he spent a year at Rio de Janeiro. In January 1817 with another company of missionaries he went to Sydney and on to the Society Islands, arriving at Moorea (French Polynesia) in November 1817, subsequently working an another of these mid-Pacific islands, Raiatea. The children of this marriage were: "John (b.1817): he became conversant with Aboriginal language and at times deputised for his father in courts. He did not marry. He had a property in northern NSW which had failed by 1844, when he was 27. (JRAHS:359) "Frances: married Capt James R. Siddins, light-keeper, S. Head. (Dunbar wreck). Son: R.L. Siddins; possessed a copy of the ’Key’, from Sarah, marked ‘To Richard Lancelot Siddins, this work of his mother and my father’"i.e. daughter Frances and Threlkeld. "Martha"did not marry "Mary (b. 23 Sept. 1823) Following the death of his wife in March 1824, Threlkeld decided to return to England. While in Sydney, where he arrived in August 1824, it was suggested to him that he establish a mission to the Aborigines. With Governor Brisbane’s consent, in January 1825 a site was agreed on Near Newcastle at what is now Belmont, then called Reid’s Mistake, on Lake Macquarie. In October 1824 Threlkeld re-married, his new wife, Sarah Arndell, taking over responsibility for his four children aged between 7 years and 6 months, and five more children resulting. These were to be: • Lancelot Edward (married the sister of G.A. Lloyd) • Thomas Samuel (married and had at least one son) ° Elizabeth (married a cousin of John Fairfax) ° Sarah Ann ° Tabitha (married James Reading of Reading and Wellbank, printers, publishers) Over the next 16 years Threlkeld was to experience, perhaps provoke, many difficulties, frustrations and failures but was also to produce the first comprehensive accounts of an Australian indigenous language. Although he had produced no languages works while in the Society Islands, he began almost at once at Lake Macquarie with a work on how to write the language in 1825, followed by ’Specimens of a dialect’ in 1827. In May 1825 he was in Newcastle and in 1826 transferred the mission station to Bahtahbah, now Belmont south of Newcastle, on Lake Macquarie, where be first tried to introduce the Aboriginals to agriculture. Financial troubles soon arose and with them came conflict with the LMS and their local representative the Rev. Samuel Marsden. In 1828 the LMS decided to close the mission. In 1829 Threlkeld persuaded Governor SirRalph Darling to provide a land grant, and soon after January 1831 Threlkeld moved to Ebenezer (Toronto) on the opposite side of Lake Macquarie. With his informant Biraban’s help he became proficient in the local language, writing language works, acting as interpreter in court proceedings, and writing regular reports on progress. His grammar on the language was published in 1834, that was tp be republished in 1892. His ’Spelling Book’ came out in 1836. Nevertheless criticism of him flourished, notable from John Dunmore Lang. But as Threlkeld’s efforts with and on behalf of the indigenous people continued, demographics were ultimately to defeat him. Nearly all the local indigenous people had died out by 1840, to the point where Governor Sir George Gipps withdrew government support and the mission was forced to close at the end of December 1841. Threlkeld struggled to make ends meet with a mining venture on his property in 1840, then moving to Sydney in 1841, becoming minister of the South Head Congregational Church and running a day school. In 1845 he became chaplain of seamen and worked to build a Mariners' Church. He became a prominent tendentious figure in Sydney public life. At this time, in 1850, he published his ’Key’ in which he described the role of the suffixes attached to verb stems. It appears he might have been assisted in this by his oldest daughter Frances. Frances and her elder brother John, young children at the time the mission was established, had probably acquired"in the manner of children everywhere"a fluency in the language that surpassed that of their father. In 1851 Threlkeld’s work with the indigenous people of New South Wales was recognised by his appointment to membership of the Ethnological Society, London. His wife, Sarah, died in December 1853; Threlkeld lived to 10 October 1859. [JS: based to a considerable extent on the biography by Neil Gunson] -------------------------- JS LIST LOCATION: In green ringbinder on upper study bookshelves