Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/213

 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

��It is a matter of fact that the aborigines of these colonies and of the numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean are rapidly becoming extinct. The cause of their extinction is mysterious. Does it arise from the iniquity of this portion of the human race having become full ■? — or, that the times of these Gentiles are fulfilled 1 — or, is it but the natural efi'ects of iniquity producing its conse- quent ruin to the workers thereof in accordance with the natural order of God's government of the universe 1 Whatever may be the result of speculative theories in answer to these queries, there remains one grand question incontrovertible, " Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right f

The providence of God has permitted ancient nations, together with their languages, and numerous tribes, with their various tongues, to pass away and others to take possession of and dwell in their tents, just as we in New South Wales and the neigh- bouring colonies now do, in the place of the original inhabitants of the land.

The numbers of the aborigines, both in Australia and the South Sea Islands, have always been overrated, and the efforts that have been made, on Christian principles, to ameliorate their condition, have been more abundant in proportion to the number of these aborigines, than have ever been any similar efforts towards the hundreds of millions of heathens in other parts of the world.

My own attempt in favour of the aborigines of New South Wales was commenced in the year 1824, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, at the request of the deputation from that Institution sent out for the purpose of establishing Missions in the East, and urged likewise by the solicitations of the local Government of this colony. The British Government sanctioned the project by authorizing a grant of 10,000 acres of land, at Lake Macquarie, in trust for the said purpose, at the recommendation of Sir Thomas Brisbane, the then Governor of the Australian Colonies.

In 1839, the London Missionary Society abandoned the mission, broke faith with me, and left me to seek such resources as the providence of God might provide, after fifteen years' service in their employ. The Colonial Government, being perfectly acquainted with all the circumstances of the case, stepped in and enabled me to continue in my attempt to obtain a knowledge of the aboriginal language, and the British Government subsequently confirmed the new ari'angement.

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