An original manuscript Journal belonging to the late Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld, missionary to the Aborigines in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie areas in the 1820s onward has been digitised and uploaded to the University of Newcastle’s Virtual Sourcebook for Aboriginal Studies in the Hunter Region.
We sincerely thank Mrs Marjorie Raven, great grand daughter of the late Reverend Threlkeld for her permission to publish this important Journal. We also thank her son Lindsay and grandson Blake for preparing the digital files on CDrom for us.
The original Journal which covers the period from December 1828 to around February 1846 is now lost, and presumably formed part of a series of Journal diaries.
It was originally in the possession of an owner in Cattai. Prior to his death, the manuscript was lent to Mrs Raven, who then lent it to the Mitchell Library, who digitised the full manuscript including additional papers belonging to Mrs Raven.
The Journal was then returned to the owner, and following his death, subsequently lost. Every avenue of locating it pursued by Mrs Raven has come to no avail causing great concern for the fate of such an important historical document to Hunter Region and the Australian nation.
Its importance to local indigenous and non indigenous researchers at the University and wider regional community is inestimable.
It is vitally important and urgent that we track down the original and ensure that it is preserved and stored in a proper archival temperature and humidity controlled environment. It therefore greatly appreciated if anyone knowing the present whereabouts of the original could contact us on archives@newcastle.edu.au or 02 49215819.
The full digitised copy of this Australian regional treasure can be downloaded below:
Threlkeld, L.E. (Lancelot Edward), 1788-1859. [Manuscript] A Journal Kept By Lancelot Edward Threlkeld. [91MB PDF]
Note: The original was a huge 450MB digital file which we have managed to optimise to 91MB which is still large for most people. We recommend firstly downloading the document to your computer by right mouse-clicking on the link and then choosing ‘Save Target As’. Then, pick a location on your computer and click ‘OK’. The file will be downloaded to your computer and you can track its progress. Please bear in mind that it is a large file, and so may take some time to download depending upon your connection.
16 September 2008 Update
We reported back in February of this year of a lost original manuscript Journal belonging to the late Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld, missionary to the Aborigines in the Hunter Region that was uploaded to the University of Newcastle’s Virtual Sourcebook for Aboriginal Studies in the Hunter Region. This original manuscript Journal covers the period from December 1828 to circa February 1846 and its present whereabouts are unknown.
Mrs Raven, great great grand daughter of the late Reverend Threlkeld, who sent us the original digital files, recently located a number of copies of missing leaves from the manuscript which she copied and sent to us to incorporate into into the online manuscript. The missing pages are 154-161 and 267-268. There are also an additional two pages placed at the end of the digital PDF file.
She contacted us on the 21 August 2008 telling us of the mystery of the missing pages which she located in one of her regular cleanups.
What is intriguing is that the pages copied were from the missing Journal! Not only that, they are missing from the original photographed copy of the Journal, which would imply that they were copied from an in tact original. She cannot recall the source of the copies.
Pages 154 – 161 inclusive (1834) relate to Elizabeth Arndell’s (LET’s mother-in-law, widow of Thomas Arndell, and Mrs Raven’s 3 x greats grandmother) application for a pension. Pages 267 and 268 include the death of Reverend Samuel Marsden in 1838. All are in L. E. Threlkeld’s handwriting.
The original Journal which covers the period from December 1828 to around February 1846 is now lost, and presumably formed part of a series of Journal diaries. It originally was in the possession of an owner in Cattai. Prior to his death, the manuscript was lent to Mrs Raven, who then lent it to the Mitchell Library who digitised the full manuscript including additional papers belonging to Mrs Raven.
Please download the updated version of the PDF file.
Threlkeld, L.E. (Lancelot Edward), 1788-1859. [Manuscript] A Journal Kept By Lancelot Edward Threlkeld. [91 MB PDF]
Note: The original was a huge 450MB digital file which we have managed to optimise to 87MB which is still large for most people. We recommend firstly downloading the document to your computer by right mouse-clicking on the link and then choosing ‘Save Target As’. Then, pick a location on your computer and click ‘OK’. The file will be downloaded to your computer and you can track its progress. Please bear in mind that it is a large file, and so may take some time to download depending upon your connection.
Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist
University of Newcastle