n - University of Newcastle

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
IT ~s-as during the year lS?i, being tlle tllircl pear after the comnlellceulellt
of my mission to the al~origii~es, that the first nork of
this kincl was proclncecl-the result of nly researches, assisteil by
WGill. The work was elltitlecl " Specimei~s of the Language of
the Aborigines of New South TTales," and mar, printed in Syclney,
the only attempt that had then been lllacle by ttllyolle to obtain a
thorough gramnlatical knowledge of the al~original language of
Anstralia, in any of its I-arious dialects, nncl to rc~ncIer it into a
written form.
In 1834, on the recomnleilclation of the Rex. 15'. G. Broughton,
the then Ilrch-Z)eacon of Kew South \17ales, tl~e Colonial Government,
and the Society for the Pronlotion of Christian Iinom~leclge,
Lonclon, conjointly advanced sufficient funds to enable me to
to publish a small edition, now out of print, of "An Austrnliall
Grammar of the Langoage as spoken hy the Aborigines in tlle
Vicinity of Lake DIacquarie, New,South Wales." I11 1850, I
ublishecl. on my owl1 XCCOUII~, " A Key to %he Structure of the
Language, being an Analysis of the Particles used as
to form the rarious mocliiications of the Verbs, showing
tial powers, ahstract roots, and other peculiarities of the
" Both of these works mere presented to, and exhibited
a1 National Exhibition, London, 185 1.
icon mill contain only those worcls mhiclt are usecl in
by Saint Luke. For the exemplification of such tenses
cases as may not be used therein, must be made to
e " Australian Grammar," ancl to the " Key to the Structure
the Aboriginal Language."
A few illustrative sentences mill be foullcl at the encl of the
Lexicon, showing the mode in which certain fornls of English
phraseology are expressecl i11 the aboriginal language.
As a tribute of respect to the departed worth of AI6Gill, the
intelligent aboliginal, \.:hose valuable assistallce enabled me to
overcome very Inany difficulties in tlie language mucll sooner
than otherwise coulcl ha~e been accon~plished, his likeness is also
attached to this work.
Sydney,
New South Wales,
18.59.
L. E. THRELKELD.