The Papers of George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector, Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate: Volume 2: Aboriginal Vocabularies: South East Australia, 1839-1852

The journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson (1788-1866), the Chief Protector of Aborigines of Port Phillip from 1839 to early 1850, are a rich source of historical and ethnohistorical information. His voluminous private papers and journals were acquired by the Mitchell Library in New South Wales in 1939 from the estate of his son Arthur P. Robinson of Bath, England. The papers did not arrive in Sydney until 1949, their departure from England being delayed by their possible destruction in transit during the second world war.

N.J.B. Plomley (1966, 1987) has published the journals that relate to Robinson's period in Tasmania (1829-1838), and Ian D. Clark (2000, 2014) has published the journals that concern Victoria (1839-1852).

This volume is the second volume in a series that will publish the Papers of GA Robinson that concern Port Phillip/Victoria. These will include Letterbooks (1839-1848), Correspondence (1839-1852), Official Reports (1841-49); Aboriginal Vocabularies (1839-1852); and Miscellanea. Volume One, the Chief Protector’s Office Journal (1839-1850), has already been published.

This present volume is Volume Two: Aboriginal Vocabularies, Southeast Australia, 1839 – 1852. The entries in this volume have been collated from one volume of Robinson’s Papers (Vol. 65, Aboriginal Vocabularies: South East Australia, 1839 - 1852).

Much has been written on Robinson and on the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, and rather than add to this, readers wishing to learn more about Robinson should consult the biography written by Rae-Ellis (1996).

George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector

Having successfully pressured the British government to abolish colonial slavery in 1833, philanthropists and people of evangelical, Protestant, non-conformist, and humanitarian convictions, collectively known as the ‘Exeter Hall’ movement, formed in 1836 an Aborigines Protection Society. As a result of considerable lobbying the society achieved a House of Commons Select Committee which tabled their report in June 1837 in which they recommended, in the case of New South Wales, the establishment of an Aboriginal Protectorate (House of Commons Sessional Papers, 1837, Vol. 7). Later that year Secretary of State Lord Glenelg proposed that five protectors would be appointed for the Port Phillip District early in 1838.

George Augustus Robinson, the Commandant of the Flinders Island Aboriginal Settlement, who had established a certain notoriety for his role in the ‘conciliation’ of Van Diemen’s Land Aboriginal people, was appointed the Chief Protector, and with him four Assistant Protectors. The assistants were three Methodist schoolmasters and an Army officer. The three Wesleyans were Edward Stone Parker (1802-1865), a teacher from London; William Thomas (1793-1867), a London school principal born in Westminster to Welsh parents; and James Dredge (1796-1846), a schoolmaster from Salisbury, England. Lieutenant Charles Wightman Sievwright was a 36-year-old officer in the 7th Fusiliers and had been stationed in Malta.
The four Assistant Protectors were notified of their appointments in December 1837 and 12 months later their appointments were announced in Australia in the NSW Government Gazette. With their families, the assistants sailed on the Hope, and arrived in Sydney in 1838 where they met Robinson. Upon arrival at Port Phillip in January 1839, the assistants were directed to report to Police Magistrate William Lonsdale in Melbourne, and take instructions from him until Chief Protector Robinson arrived from Flinders Island.