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Redmond Barry was a founder of the University of Melbourne, of which he was first chancellor (1853), a position he held until his death. He had a life-long interest in the welfare of Aboriginal people, often acting in their defence in court cases. In the 1860s he worked to collate a set of vocabularies of Aboriginal languages. In a letter dated 24 December 1866, he wrote about:
Vocabularies rendering English words with the languages of the various tribes of the Aboriginal natives of different parts of Australia. These have been forwarded to me by gentlemen to whom I sent them. […]
Five hundred copies were printed and of these several were sent to Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, as well as others distributed in Victoria.
The 1867 publication of thirteen Australian language vocabularies resulted from this questionnaire. Unfortunately, no copies of the original questionnaire have been found, and we do not know if there were more vocabularies received by Barry than are produced in this booklet.
A scanned copy of this document is available at the National Library of Australia: https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/656466
The booklet contains vocabularies of up to 700 items for the following Australian languages.
Wannikin (Mt Rouse tribe)( Djab Wurrung?); Mt Talbot tribe (Nundadjali?); upper Murray tribe; lower Murray tribe; Swan Hill tribe; Wannon (Yarlook tribe); lower Goulburn tribe; Lake Tyer tribe (Krowathunkooloong?); Maryborough tribe; Bewa (Lake Hindmarsh)(Biwadjali?); Maal (Sth Aust.) (Ngarkat (Kulin)); Adelaide tribe (Kaurna); Tasmania - Mt Royal and Bruny Island.
It also contains a vocabulary of a New Caledonian laguage which Prof Claire Moise has determined to be Nyelâyu de Balade.
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