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Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Read more about the article Lancelot Threlkeld’s labour of language
Lancelot Threlkeld in his later years and one of the volumes of his reminiscences

Lancelot Threlkeld’s labour of language

When Christian missionary Lancelot Threlkeld first arrived in the colony of New South Wales he observed that many whites insisted that the Blacks had no actual language but simply made noises. He remarked that: This was a convenient assumption, for if it could be proved that the Aborigines of New South Wales were only a species of wild beasts, there could be no guilt attributed to those who shot them off or poisoned them as cumberers of the earth. While he was at Newcastle Threlkeld borrowed a tent in which, every day at first, he met…

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Read more about the article Lancelot Threlkeld: advocate for justice
Lancelot Threlkeld, circa 1815

Lancelot Threlkeld: advocate for justice

Of all the characters I've read about from Newcastle's early colonial history, one of the most interesting is the remarkable missionary, Lancelot Threlkeld. Lancelot Threlkeld wanted to be a stage actor, but he became a missionary instead. This remarkable character established the first mission to Australian Aboriginals, at Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle, in 1825. And although the mission itself can scarcely be rated as having been a success, it enabled Threlkeld to leave a precious legacy to future generations. Threlkeld set out to learn the language of the people he planned to preach to and convert…

Continue ReadingLancelot Threlkeld: advocate for justice
Read more about the article Biraban, aka M’Gill: witness to tragic times
Two versions of a caricature portrait of "Magill" by convict artist Richard Browne, c1819

Biraban, aka M’Gill: witness to tragic times

It's hard not to be intrigued by the historical figure of Biraban, the Aboriginal man who is mostly remembered by white historians for his role in helping missionary Lancelot Threlkeld compile a written account of the language of the indigenous people displaced by colonists around the Newcastle and Sydney regions of New South Wales. When I think of Biraban I think of the challenges he faced as a boy taken from his home and family and then later obliged to watch as his people and culture suffered so terribly from the impact of European settlement. He…

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