Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (20 October 1788 – 10 October 1859) was an English missionary, primarily based in Australia. He was married twice and survived by sons and daughters from both marriages. Threlkeld is known for his work with Biraban in recording and publishing English translations of the Awabakal language.A. Keary, "Christianity, colonialism, and cross-cultural translation: Lancelot Threlkeld, Biraban, and the Awabakal", Aboriginal History, 2003, p. 120; J. Harris, p. 55; ["State Library of New South Wales, Biraban, and the Reverend Threlkeld", State Library of New South Wales. Archive, 4 September 2008]. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
Early life Born in Southwark, England, now in south London, on 20 October 1788, Threlkeld was son of Samuel Joseph Threlkeld, a brush-maker, and his wife Mary.A. Keary, "Christianity, colonialism, and cross-cultural translation: Lancelot Threlkeld, Biraban, and the Awabakal", Aboriginal History, 2003, p. 120; J. Harris, p. 55; State Library of New South Wales, Biraban and the Reverend Threlkeld, State Library of New South Wales. Retrieved 21 September 2017. In 1813 he began training as an evangelical missionary with the London Missionary Society (LMS). His missionary career began in 1814, with an assignment to the Society Islands.C. Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. 2, Philadelphia, Lea and Blanchard, 1845, p.250; J. Harris, pp. 53–55; K. Clouten, Reid's Mistake: The Story of Lake Macquarie from its Discovery until 1890,Lake Macquarie Shire Council, New South Wales, 1967, p. 22; Society Islands, retrieved 29 September 2017.
Missionary life Evangelist Threlkeld was well educated, and on 8 November 1815 sailed for Tahiti, but the illness and subsequent death of a child of his detained him for a year in Rio de Janeiro. He reached Eimeo (now Mo'orea in French Polynesia) in November.
Here Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, travelling LMS deputies, appointed Threlkeld as missionary to the Aboriginal people of Lake Macquarie. Situated on land allocated by Governor Brisbane, Threlkeld was instructed to teach Aboriginal people agriculture, carpentry and establish a children's school. The LMS also dictated Threlkeld learn the local language as a precursor to successful Christian conversions.A. Keary, pp. 120–121; J. Harris, p. 55; J. Turner and G. Blyton, The Aboriginals of Lake Macquarie: A brief history Lake Macquarie City Council, New South Wales, 1995, p. 31; K. Clouten, pp. 22–23; L. E. Threlkeld, "Selected Correspondence", in N. Gunson, ed., Australian Reminiscences & Papers of L. E. Threlkeld Missionary to the Aborigines 1824–1859, Vol. II. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, p. 181; L. E. Threlkeld, "The Gospel by St. Luke Translated into the Language of the Awabakal by L.E. Threlkeld", in J. Fraser ed., 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, Charles Potter, Sydney, 1892, p. 125; P. van Toorn, Writing Never Arrives Naked: Early Aboriginal Cultures of writing in Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2006, p. 40.
By September 1826 Threlkeld and family were living on site at the Bahtahbah mission in six-roomed house.A. Keary, p. 122; K. Clouten, p. 25. Alongside the Threlkeld family were three British overseers, one an assigned convict, one an adult and one a child domestic.C. Wilkes, p. 253; J. Harris, p. 55; K. Clouten, p. 25. Threlkeld, who was paying Aboriginal workers on site with fishing hooks, food and clothing, wrote in 1825, "[It] is my intention to act here upon the same plan we found so successful at Raiatea namely, give nothing to any individual but in return for some labour for common good!"L. E. Threlkeld, "Selected Correspondence", p. 178; J. Turner and G. Blyton, p. 32. Threlkeld wrote of the early period of the mission's settlement. Aboriginal people frequenting the mission sought land allocations: "Two natives have spoken to me already to allow them a portion of land for agriculture."L.E. Threlkeld, "Selected Correspondence", p. 183.
Residing on site at Bahtahbah mission enabled Threlkeld to work closely and frequently with Awabakal Elder Biraban.L. E, Threlkeld, "Memoranda of Events at Lake Macquarie", in N. Gunson, ed., Australian Reminiscences & Papers of L. E. Threlkeld Missionary to the Aborigines 1824–1859, Vol. I. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, p. 98. One significant task they undertook together was to establish a written form for the Awabakal language. Threlkeld wrote of this period as one being filled with mornings in which he worked with Biraban, "who speaks very good English, in writing the language.... Our conversations vary, and cruise from enquiries into their customs and habits. Easy sentences, passages from scripture, and information on Christian subjects are attempted."L. E. Threlkeld, "Memoranda of Events at Lake Macquarie", p.98; Biraban, retrieved 29 September 2017. As a consequence of such work, Threlkeld published Specimens of a Dialect of the Aborigines of New South Wales.L. E. Threlkeld, "The Gospel by St. Luke Translated into the Language of the Awabakal by L.E. Threlkeld", p. 125.
Despite this socio-linguistic success in 1827, the lack of religious conversions led to the LMS objecting to Threlkeld's expenses. This assertion also affected Threlkeld's conflict with the colonial magistrate, Rev. Samuel Marsden, and Presbyterian minister, Rev. John Dunmore Lang.C. Wilkes, p. 252; J. Harris, pp. 55 ff.; K. Clouten, p. 26; P. van Toorn, pp. 40–41. The LMS consequently appointed Marsden as a financial overseer and thus manager of the Bahtahbah mission.K. Clouten, p. 26. In 1828 the LMS, dissatisfied with Threkeld's evangelical work, directed him to abandon the Bahtahbah mission, and offered to pay for his return to London.C. Wilkes, p. 251; J. Harris, p. 56; K. Clouten, pp. 26–29; J. Turner and G. Blyton, p. 32. Declining the LMS invitation, Threlkeld was subsequently appointed by Governor Darling, on behalf of the colonial government, to continue his "Christianisation and civilisation."A. Keary, p. 126; J. Harris, p. 56; C. Wilkes, p. 251; K. Clouten, p. 28. This mission was allocated between on the northern side of Lake Macquarie, and were named as Derabambah, Punte and Puneir by Aboriginal populations and Ebenezer (mission) by the European population. Initially, a mission house with 12 rooms was built of weatherboard and plaster.K. Clouten, pp. 28–29; Lake Macquarie and District Historical Society, Toronto Lake Macquarie, N.S.W: The Pictorial Story, Westlake Printers, Boolaroo, 1979, p. 7. Later the site also hosted a storehouse, a barn, a hut (as living quarters for Australian/European men living on site), orchards and fenced cattle spaces.C. Wilkes, p. 250; K. Clouten, p. 30. However, with less financial support and goods to distribute Threlkeld's ability to persuade Awabakal people to remain on site dramatically decreased.A. Keary, p. 126. The official closure of the Ebenezer Mission occurred on 31 December 1841, with the precarious financial position of Threlkeld leading to the establishment of grazing stock and mining of coal seams on the property.N. Gunson, Threlkeld, Lancelot Edward (1788–1859) Retrieved 8 September 2017. In 1842 the British Secretary of State for the Colonies qualified the evangelical missions, such as Threlkeld's, as failures.J. Harris, p. 23. However, the LMS, having received a letter from the Quakers James Backhouse and George Washington Walker, detailing the specific nature of missionary work in the Australian colonies, acknowledged Threlkeld's "vigilance, activity and devotedness to the welfare of the Aboriginal race."J. Harris, p. 59; K. Clouten, p. 32; J. Turner, & G. Blyton, p. 40.
Interpreter The Awabakal Scriptures Threlkeld worked in association with Biraban to translate, conceptualise and write various Christian religious texts.The University of Newcastle, "Backhouse, James", Chapters 33–35 of A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, The University of Newcastle [website], 2017, Cultural Collections (taken from Backhouse, James. Chapters 33–35 of A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies. London: Hamilton, Adams, 1843, pp. 368–414. Retrieved 14 September 2017 pp. 381–82. Threlkeld published a book describing the Awabakal language: 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, New South Wales.A. Keary, p. 125; J. Harris, p. 56; The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW: 1803–1842) Saturday, 12 March 1831, p. 3. Original Correspondence; P. Sutton, "Unusual Couples: Relationships and Research on the Knowledge Frontier", Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies [website], 29 May 2002 Retrieved 10 September 2017, p. 2. In 1836, he published An Australian Spelling Book in the Language spoken by the Aborigines. Threlkeld described the translation process with Biraban as follows: "Thrice I wrote [the Gospel of Luke], and he and I went through it sentence by sentence as we proceeded. McGill spoke the English language fluently."J. Harris, p. 57. The objective of Threlkeld was to create a linguistic record "before the speakers themselves become totally extinct," as a means of "scientific inquiry" and "ethnographical pursuits".L. E. Threlkeld, "A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language", in J. Fraser, ed., 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, Charles Potter, Sydney, 1892, p. 120. Threlkeld began translating the New Testament into the Hunter's River Aboriginal language, but realising in 1842 that his mission was achieving little success, Threlkeld ceased his linguistic work.J. Fraser, "Introduction", pp. xi–lxiv; K. Clouten, p. 32. Threlkeld later resumed working on publications of the Awabakal language, publishing A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language (1850) and was working on a translation of the four Gospels at the time of his sudden death on 10 October 1859.
The Supreme Court Threlkeld's linguistic work was highly valued in the Colonial Courts in the 1830s, as "Aborigines were not permitted to give evidence in court, not being allowed to swear an oath on the Bible without adhering to Christianity."J. Harris, p. 57; Macquarie University, "R. v. Boatman or jackass and bulleye NSWSupC 4", Macquarie Law School, 12 August 2011, Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, Retrieved 25 September 2017; Macquarie University, "R. v. Jackey NSWSupC 94", Macquarie Law School, 16 August 2011, Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales Retrieved 25 September 2017. Threlkeld also provided ethnographic information used to inform judges' conclusions in numerous cases.A. Johnston, "A Blister on the Imperial Antipodes: Lancelot Edward Threlkeld in Polynesia and Australia", in D. Lambert and A. Lester eds, Colonial Lives across the British Empire: Imperial Careering in the Long Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2006, pp. 74–75; A. Johnston, The Paper War, UWA Publishing, Western Australia, 2011, p. 183; J. Turner and G. Blyton, p. 38.
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