The Colonial Bible in Australia

Book excerpt: This book provides an extended introduction to the scripture translations of Biraban, an Awabakal man, and the missionary Lancelot Threlkeld. It examines Threlkeld’s linguistic field work in Raiatea prior to coming to New South Wales. It places the translations he undertook in the context of Australian missionary linguistics and the rapid advance of the settler frontier, for which he was a key eyewitness. It analyses the motivation and collaboration between Biraban and Threlkeld in the light of discoveries of new manuscripts, including that of the Gospel of St Matthew, as well as Threlkeld’s personal diary, neither of which have previously been analysed. The review includes a linguistic and ethnographic analysis of the complete corpus of Biraban and Threlkeld’s collaboration. It includes a complete list of the Threlkeld manuscripts and the many printed editions, including those available online. For historical purposes, it includes a copy of the unique standalone edition of the Gospel of Saint Luke, presented by the editor, James Fraser, to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The original is now in Cambridge University Library. It also includes a full digitisation of Threlkeld’s autograph manuscript, illuminated by Annie Layard, in Auckland City Library.