Threlkeld, Reverend Lancelot Edward (1788 - 1859)

Born: England (London)

Congregational minister and missionary, formerly with the London Missionary Society in the Society Islands and NSW (Belmont, Lake Macquarie) until dismissed from the LMS in 1829.

Career Highlights

Following his dismissal from the LMS amid disputes with Reverend Samuel Marsden in 1828. Reverend Threlkeld secured a grant from Governor Darling for land at `Ebenezer' (Toronto) and a public salary for his missionary work. His Lake Macquarie mission lasted until 1841, when he moved to Sydney and began performing pastoral duties for the South Head Congregational Church. Threlkeld published a number of linguistic works, including Specimens of a Dialect (1827), An Australian Grammar (published in 1834 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge), An Australian Spelling Book (1836) and A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language (1850).

Biographies

ADB, s.v. "Threlkeld, Lancelot Edward", by T. N. Gunson, 2:528-30.