PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series B - 103 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL CONTACT WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NEW SOUTH WALES: 1788 TO 1845 Jakelin Troy vtrT. OF lINGUISnCS SCHOOl OF PACIFIC STUDIES Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Troy, J. Australian Aboriginal contact with the English language in New South Wales: 1788 to 1845. B-103, xii + 168 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1990. DOI:10.15144/PL-B103.cover ©1990 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the Linguistic Circle of Canberra and consists of four series: SERIES A: Occasional Papers SERIES C: Books SERIES B: Monographs SERIES D: Special Publications FOUNDING EDITOR: S.A. Wurm EDITORIAL BOARD: A. Pawley, K.A. Adelaar, T.E. Dutton, M.D. Ross, D.T. Tryon EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B.W. Bender K.A. McElhanon University of Hawaii Summer Institute of Linguistics David Bradley H.P. McKaughan LaTrobe University University of Hawaii Michael G. Clyne P. Milhlhl1usler Monash University Bond University S.H. Elbert G.N. O'Grady University of Hawaii University of Victoria, B.C. KJ. Franklin K.L. Pike Summer Institute of Linguistics Summer Institute of Linguistics W.W. Glover E.C. Polome Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Texas G.W. Grace Gillian Sankoff University of Hawaii University of Pennsylvania M.A.K. Halliday W.A.L. Stokhof University of Sydney University ofLeiden E. Haugen B.K. T'sou HarvardUniversity City Polytechnic of Hong Kong A. Healey E.M. Uhlenbeck Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Leiden L.A. Hercus J .w.M. Verhaar Australian National University Divine Word Institute, Madang John Lynch C.L. Voorhoeve University of Papua New Guinea University' ofuiden All correspondence concerning PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies The AustralianNational University Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia Copyright © The Author First Published 1990 Typesetby Anne Rees Printed by A.N.U. Printing Service Bound by F & M Perfect Bookbinding The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for assistance in the production of this series This publicationwas made possible by an initial grant fromthe Hunter Douglas Fund ISSN 0078-754X ISBN 0 85883 3964 To my father Eric Troy and my mother Shirley Beed-Troy TABLEOF CONTENTS PREFACE Vll ACKNOWLEOOEMENTS viii ABBREVIATIONS ix MAP 1: Sydney and environments x MAP2: The Counties x MAP 3: Key areas in the development of New South Wales Pidgin xi 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. THEORETICAL ORIENfA TIONS AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 4 2.1 DefInitions 4 2.2 General issues 6 2.3 The relevance of research into 'pidginisation' and into PacifIccontact languages to NSW contact languages 7 2.4 Applying the theoreticalorientations in order to devise a methodological framework 10 2.5 Methodological framework 11 3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO CONTACT BETWEEN ABORIGINES AND COLONISTS 13 3.1 Introduction 13 3.2 Descriptionof the colonists, 1788-1845 15 3.3 Aboriginesand education 21 3.4 Aborigines and missions 24 3.5 The colonial government's offIcial policies on the Aborigines 27 3.6 Frontier advancement 32 4. ANALYSIS OF DATA 38 4.0 Introduction 38 4.1 1788 to 1794: arrival of the fIrst British colonists and extension of settlement to Parramatta 39 4.2 1794 to 1813: period of expansion to the Blue Mountains 52 4.3 1813 to 1818: periodof expansion beyond the Blue Mountains 55 4.4 1818 to 1827: period of expansion to the opening of a passage across the Liverpool Ranges 61 4.5 1827 to 1835: beginning of the period of pastoralisation 77 4.6 1835 to 1845: the period of uncontrolledsquatter advancement into the interior, major immigrant arrivals and the end of transportation 85 5. CONCLUSION 105 v VI APPENDICES 109 APPENDIX 1: Data on Aboriginal contact with English 110 APPENDIX 2: Aborigines living with or spending extended periods of time with colonists 135 APPENDIX 3: The population of New South Wales: 1788 to 1845 141 APPENDIX 4: Colonists who lived with the Aborigines 143 BIBLIOGRAPHY 144 PREFACE This is a revised version of my BARons thesis (Troy 1985), which incorporates suggestions made by various reviewers and referees. It has been updated to include some references not available to me in 1985. The material now forms a basis for my PhD research in the Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, which is concerned with the development of contact languages in New South Wales (taking into account the diachronic border changes). J akelin Troy Canberra, 1987. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research and production of this work has been carried out with the assistance of many people, organisations and institutions. However, I accept full responsibility for the content and ideas expressed within. I would here like to offer my thanks to the Australian National University and the Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies for providing me with the Summer Vacation Research Fellowship from November to March 1982-83 which enabled me to begin the research on which this work was based. Since March 1986, I have been funded by a Commonwealth Citizens Post-Graduate Research Award and the Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. I also offer my deepest gratitude to the following people who have helped me write and produce this work: Mr Eric Troy, Mr Padraigh O'Leary , Dr David Walsh, Dr Alan Rumsey, Dr Francesca Merlan, Dr Michael Walsh, Dr Tamsin Donaldson, Professor Stephen Wurm, Dr Tom Dutton, the late Dr Don Laycock, Dr Darrell Tryon, Dr Malcolm Ross, Mrs Lois Carrington, Dr Alan Baxter, Dr Jeff Siegel, Dr Walter Seiler, Dr Harold Koch, Mr Peter Newton, Dr John Harris, Dr Les Hiatt, Dr Jeremy Beckett, Dr Gill Cowlishaw, Ms. Louise Plowman, Mrs Anne Rees and Wus Janet Ezard. Finally I would like to thank my mother, Shirley Beed-Troy for producing the beautiful sketch maps which are used in this book. Vlll ABBREVIATIONS GENERAL Note: For abbreviations used only in the Bibliography see the list before the first bibliographic entry. CMS Church Missionary Society LMS London Missionary Society HRA Historical Records of Australia ML Mitchell Library IE Indo European PIE Pacific Jargon English GRAMMATICAL ABBREVIATIONS Adj adjective NP noun phrase AdjP adjectival phrase Num number (No was not chosen Adv adverb because of the possibility of Affrr affirmative confusion with Nom) CN compound noun PL plural Cond conditional Pn pronoun Conj conjunctor Poss possessive DefArt defmite article Prep preposition Dem demons trative pI, p2, p3 first person, second person, Dir direction third person Fut future Redup reduplication Interr interrogative S singular Intj intetjection TransM transitive marker Ints intensifier V verb Loc locative VI intransitive verb M marker VP verb phrase N noun VT transitive verb Neg negator NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS (1:84) or 1:84 means appendix one, datum eighty four means that two or more items are alternative interpretations of the data, e.g. {Aborigine} - {Aborigines} < > encloses orthographic symboVs from the data, following K.H. Albrow 1972. Footnotes appear at the end of each chapter and are sequential throughout the chapter. lX x MAP 1: SYDNEY AND ENVIRONMENTS .. ..� MAP2: THE COUNTIES Xl I .. ---- - -.-- COLON'Y' 0'; QU liENS LAND . ctec.l.,a..,..ci J.�, .�""'''' --- ... - --- COLONY e.f NEW SOUTH WALE.S SOUTH AUSTRALtA dec2.a�etl- /.36 MAP 3: KEY AREAS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES PIDGIN Troy, J. Australian Aboriginal contact with the English language in New South Wales: 1788 to 1845. B-103, xii + 168 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1990. DOI:10.15144/PL-B103.cover ©1990 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. 1. INTRODUCTION In 1788 the British began to colonise Australiaand immediately commenced to impose their own socialand linguisticconditioning on the Aborigines. For the next twenty years Britishinfluence was confmed within the natural barriers of the coastal mountain ranges of what is now New South Wales!. However, news of the colonists and the effects of their arrival on Aborigines, especially those within the County of Cumberland, was spread along the traditional trade routes and communication networks. After 1813, the interior of NSW was opened for settlement and the consequences of the resultant contact with colonists were devastating for Aborigines throughout NSW. Gradually at first, then with increasing momentum in the 1830s as the pastoral and squatting rush began, Aborigines all over NSW had direct, if unsolicited, contact with colonists. There is an ever-increasing body of literature dealing with the social effects on NSW Aborigines of British colonisation in Australia. However, the linguistic effects have not been researched to the same extent. There are excellent studies of the traditional Aboriginal languages of NSW and of the consequences for those languages of the British colonisation of Australia. However, to date there has been no detailed study of the kinds of linguistic results which emerged out of Aboriginal contact with English in NSW. This work is offered as a fIrst contribution to the study of Aboriginal contact with English in NSW for the period beginning in 1788 - the fIrst year of British settlement in Australia- and ending in 1845 with the cessation of transportation to NSW and the beginning of major immigrant arrivals. It is recognised that the orthographic conventions, linguistic terminologies and grammatical categories used ultimately may not prove to be optimal for this fIeld of study. However, they are part of an heuristic methodology designed for this work so as to facilitate analysis and discussion of the data.