n - University of Newcastle

X THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
The New England tribe, the Yunggai, has caused me much perplesity.
There are scarcely any blacks of that territory now surviving; but the
tribal language is quite different in its words from those around it ; I also
know for certain that the table-land of New England did not b w either
to the Kamalarai or the T17alarai. I have, therefore, called this tribe the
Pung-gai, from Pung-the name which the coast tribes give to New
England.
The Kgarego tribe belongs rather to Victoria than to New South Wales.
Of these tribes, the Kamalarai, Walarai, Ngaiamba, Bakanji, TViradhari,
the Associated Tribes, the Ngarego, the Kuringgai, are names already estab-
lished and in use ; and most of them are formed from the local word for
' no,' and thus describe more the speech than the people. The names,
Yurrinjari, TF7achigari, Paikalyung, Yakkajari, I have made ; for these
tribes have no general name for themselves. Wachi-gari and Yakka-jari
are legitimate formations from the local words for ' no'; Murrin-jari and
Paikal-yung mean the 'men,' which also is the meaning of the native
tribe-name Kuringgai-all from their distinctive tribal-words for ' man.
Tribes of aborigines, in many parts of th-, world, call themselves ' the men.
2. PORTRAIT OF BIBABAN ,.. . . ... ... Page 85
This is the intelligent aboriginal who was so useful to Mr. Threlkeld.
The illustration is reproduced from the pencil sketch which was made by
Mr. Agate.
3. PORTRAIT OF "OLD MARGARET "-an 'Awabakalin,' or
woman of the Lake Macquarie sub-tribe ... Page 196
'Old Margaret ' is the last survivor of the Awabakal. She is now living
in her slab-hut on a piece of land near Lake Macquarie Heads, and supports
herself by her own industry. She had the advantage of early train~ng in
an English home in the district ; she is respectable and respected.
Her features, as compared with those of other natives, show how much
the type varies ; and yet she is an Australian of pure origin. She was born
at Waiong, near the Hawkesbury River, and is now about 65 years of age.
4. BUNTIUI-' A. MESSENGER ' ... ... ... Page 212
This blackfellow is evidently on an errand which requires despatch.
The 'possum cloak, the hair, and the general cast of the figure are true to
nature, but the calves of the legs are stouter than usual.
INTRODUCTION.
NO large effort has yet been made to master the difficulties that
present themselves in the study of the comparative grammar of
the Australian languages. The only thing in this direction, that
is known to me, is a paper on the "Position of the Australian Lan-
guages, by W. H. J. Bleek, Esq., Ph.D.," published in 1871. Dr.
Bleek was a philologist who, in 185Y, assisted in cataloguing the
Library of His Excellency Sir Geo. Grey, K.C.B., thch Gorernor
of Cape Colony. Twenty years previously, Sir George (then
Captain Grey), as leader of an expedition into the interior of our
continent, had excellent opportunities of seeing the natire tribes
in their original condition ; and the kllowledge thus- gained was
enlarged by him and matured, while he was Governor of South
Australia. The records of the knowledge of so intelligent an
observe^ as Sir George Grey are sure to be valuable. These
records are now in the South African Public Library, Cape Town,
having been presented to that Library by him, along mith his col-
lection of books and other manuscripts.
The catalogue of Sir George Grey's Library mas published by
Triibner & Co., London, and Dr. Bleek devotes a portion of the
second volume to the philology of the Australian languages.*
The earliest of individual efforts to deal with any single lan-
guage of the Australian group was made by the Rev. L. E.
Threlkeld, who, for many years, mas engaged as a missionary
among the blacks of the Lake Macquarie district, near Newcastle,
New South Wales. His Grammar of their language was printed
in Sydney in 1834, at the " Hernld Office, Lower George Street."
A few years previously, Mr. Threlkeld had translated the Gospel
by St. Luke into the same language. This translation remained
in manuscript and had disappeared ; recently I discovered that
it still exists, and is now in the Public Library of Auckland. Thiss
" Grammar " and the " Key " and the " Gospel," and some smaller
fruits of Mr. Threlkeld's labours on that language, are now pub-
lished in a collected form in the present volume. But Threllreld's
Grammar deals mith only one dialect, and, for the purposes of
comparative grammar, more languages than one are required.
*Throughout this Introduction I say "languages," although, in fact, there
is but one Australian language with many dialects ; I also use the word
" language " instead oi dialect, wherever the meaning is clear.