The paper war : morality, print culture and power in Colonial New South Wales

310 Pages·2011·2.504 MB·English

by  Johnston, Anna

The
paper
war
Anna Johnston is Australian Research Council
Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow and Associate
Professor in English at the University of Tasmania.
She is also co-director of the Centre for Colonial-
ism and Its Aftermath. She has authored and edited
a number of books including Missionary Writing
and Empire, 1800–1860 (Cambridge University
Press, 2003), Reading Robinson: Companion Essays to
Friendly Mission (ed. with Mitchell Rolls, Quintus,
2008), and The Complete Indian Housekeeper and
Cook by Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner (ed.
with Ralph Crane, Oxford University Press, 2010).
T h e
anna johnsTon
pa p e r
moraliTy, prinT culTure, and power
in colonial new souTh wales
wa r
UWA Publishing

www.uwap.uwa.edu.au
UWAP is an imprint of UWA Publishing,
a division of The University of Western Australia
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research,
criticism or review, as permitted under the , no part may be reproduced by
any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
This book forms part of the Long Histories Series – initiated by UWA Publishing and the
Australian Research Council Network for Early European Research (NEER) – intellectual
exchanges on the long European influence in Australia and the history of cultural translation
and transmission.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Johnston, Anna,
The paper war: morality, print culture and power
in Colonial New South Wales / Anna Johnston.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

London Missionary Society–Missions–New South Wales–Lake Macquarie.

Missionaries–New South Wales–Lake Macquarie.
Aboriginal Australians–New South Wales–Lake Macquarie.
Australia–Colonization–History.

Typeset in Bembo by Lasertype
Printed by Griffin Digital
Contents
List of illustrations and tables vi
Abbreviations vii
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction Colonial archives and textuality 1
Chapter 1 Colonial morality 15
Chapter 2 Colonial linguistics 60
Chapter 3 Colonial press 104
Chapter 4 Colonial respectability 141
Chapter 5 Colonial legality 180
Conclusion Colonial historicity 221
Notes 227
Select bibliography 267
Index 283
List of iLLustrations and tabLes
Figure 1.1 Lancelot Edward Threlkeld 21
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Figure 1.2 Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet 31
Tyerman and Bennet, Journal of Voyages and Travels by the
Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. (1831)
Figure 1.3 Samuel Marsden 37
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Figure 1.4 John Dunmore Lang 44
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Figure 1.5 James Backhouse 50
State Library of Tasmania
Figure 1.6 George Washington Walker 51
State Library of Tasmania
Figure 2.1 Biraban 63
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Table 2.1 Linguistic publications of L. E. Threlkeld 65
Figure 2.2 Extract from Specimens of a Dialect 74
L. E. Threlkeld, Specimens of a Dialect (1827)
DSM/499.6/8A1. State Library of New South Wales
Figure 2.3 John Fraser map 99
L. E. Threlkeld An Australian Language (1892)
Table 5.1 Supreme Court criminal cases pertaining to 181
Aborigines in which L. E. Threlkeld appeared, 1827–38
Figure 5.1 Supreme Court Information R v. Jackey (1834) 188
State Records NSW
abbreviations
AIAS Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
AIATSIS Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies
BT Bonwick Transcripts
CWM Council for World Mission (formerly London Mis-
sionary Society)
LMS London Missionary Society
ML Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
NLA National Library of Australia
SLPS Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society
SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London
aCknowLedgements
Writing a book draws on contributions of all kinds and I am grateful
to all those who have assisted and underwritten this work.
The research for this book was supported by the University
of Tasmania’s institutional grant scheme (2001, 2002) and the
Australian Research Council Discovery Grants funding scheme
(2003–05). An important period of study leave from UTAS in 2006
enabled me to reimagine the research into a book project, and
my position as ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellow (2007–) provided
me with valuable space to devote to research and writing. Aside
from enabling crucial archival visits, funding made it possible
for me to employ research assistants, each of whom provided
integral support in the reconstruction of a multifaceted archive. In
particular, Tony Stagg and Anne Claire Carter conducted detailed
and generous literature and archival searches, transcribed almost
illegible documents, and got excited about the project in the most
heartening ways. Thanks also to Toni Sherwood and Elizabeth
Mead, who helped to organise a chaotic system both on paper and
electronically. Working with such exemplary research assistants
and, in turn, providing training for the next generation of scholars,
is a privilege that funded research allows and one for which I am
very grateful.
Archivists and librarians are essential to this kind of study. Many
thanks to the helpful staff at the following libraries and archival
collections: Special Collections, the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London; the Mitchell Library, State Library
of New South Wales; the Archives Office of New South Wales; the
Fryer Library, University of Queensland; the Library of the Religious
Society of Friends, Friends House, London; Sheffield Archives; the
British Library; the Royal Anthropological Institute; and, not least,
staff at the Morris Miller Library, University of Tasmania.
ix
Thanks to the following source for permission to reproduce
material: an earlier version of chapter one appears in Colonial Lives
Across the British Empire: Imperial Careering in the Long Nineteenth
Century, David Lambert and Alan Lester (eds), 2006, and Cambridge
University Press.
I have been thinking about Lancelot Threlkeld since 1995,
and it is impossible to name all those with whom I have had
illuminating discussions. To name only a few, but especially those
who have provided last-minute assistance and reassurance, I would
like to thank Mitchell Rolls, Alan Lester, Lucy Frost, and Pat
Brantlinger. The University of Queensland provided a stimulating
environment for my initial research on Threlkeld: special thanks
to Helen Tiffin and Alan Lawson. Hilary Carey, Nathan Garvey,
and David A. Roberts provided advice at just the right moment.
Living and working in Tasmania, home to some of Australia’s
richest (and most contested) cultural heritage, helps me to think
on a daily basis about the colonial past and imperial geographies.
The School of English, Journalism, and European Languages at
the University of Tasmania provides an extraordinarily supportive
network of colleagues, in particular Ralph Crane, Lisa Fletcher,
Elle Leane, and Danielle Wood. The Centre for Colonialism and
Its Aftermath provides an enriching research environment, and
many opportunities for reconfiguring a periphery as part of a wider
intellectual network. Thanks to Linda Martin at UWA Publishing
for terrific editing.
This book has been written in many places. Thanks to Simone
Coxall and Andrew Teverson for providing a home in London that
filled in the financial and emotional gaps; and to Jane Johnston
and Toni Sherwood for providing domestic space at various times.
Jenny and Scott Johnston always provided a home, much support,
and more than enough gentle teasing to keep me laughing.
Writing a book with a young child was a new challenge, but
there is a fierce happiness to be found in reading Foucault in the
attic then coming downstairs to a just-awake baby. This book would
not be finished without the generosity of Ron Spiers, who not only
dealt with domesticity and looked after Ruby and me, but listened
to every word of the book, at least once. This book is for Ron and
Ruby, who make going to work harder but more meaningful.