Linguistics, Religion, and Law in Colonial New South Wales: Lancelot Threkeld and Settler-Colonial Humanitarian Debates

Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld was a familiar face in the Sydney law courts during the late l820s and 18l0s. The missionary the sole London Missionary Society (LMS) representative in the Australian colonies during this period was regularly accompanied by an Aboriginal man, Biraban, who served as dual translator and advisor to Threlkeld. The presence of the two men dramatised questions about Aboriginal legal status and humanitarian interests in the colonial legal system, connecting local affairs with broader imperial concerns. Attending many of the key cases during the 1830s, Threlkeld was instrumental in raising uncomfortable questions about how legal processes dealt with Aboriginal people. His prolific and provocative writing on such issues circulated setller colonial controversies pertaining to the law around the British empire. Neither simply a cross-cultural hero nor a self-aggrandising bigot, Threlkeld exemplifies the complexity of settler identities and societies in formation.