PREFACE.
In presenting this work to the public, the writer feels it to be both a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge the weighty obligations he is under to a large number of gentlemen, scattered through the Australian Colonies and Tasmania, some of whom have kindly sent him contributions on the subject of our Aborigines and their languages, and others used their influence to induce persons resident in the bush to furnish him with particulars of the sort. To the gentlemen who have assisted him in either of these ways the writer now desires to acknowledge the obligations he is under and to offer his warmest thanks. As regards those who have favored him either with vocabularies of our languages or descriptions of the manners of our tribes, it will be unnecessary to particularize them on this page, as the reader will find their names attached to their contributions in every instance, save one or two, in which a wish has been expressed that they should be withheld. The names of the gentlemen to whom the writer is indebted in other ways, in connection with this publication, are as follow:—
- His Excellency Sir Frederick A. Weld, Governor of Western Australia.
- The Honorable Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, Bart., Chief Secretary of Victoria.
- The Honorable Sir Henry Parkes, Colonial Secretary, New South Wales.
