Reverend Lancelot Edward Threlkeld

Reverend Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (20 October 1788 – 10 October 1859). English missionary in the Pacific. In 1814 the London Missionary Society accepted him as a missionary. He left for Sydney in 1817 and from there to French Polynesia. He returned to Sydney in 1824 as was appointed to a mission to the aborigines founded at Lake Macquarie. In 1826 published 'Specimens of a Dialect of the Aborigines of New South Wales'. His connection with the London Missionary Society was severed in 1828, the Colonial Government meeting his expenses. In 1834 he published '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'. The book describes the Awabakal language. This was followed in 1836 by 'An Australian Spelling Book in the Language spoken by the Aborigines'. In 1842 Threlkeld became pastor of the Congregational church at Watsons Bay, Sydney, and in 1845 he was appointed minister of the Mariners' church at Sydney and continued in this position until his death. In 1850 he published 'A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language'.