For an explanation of the five bar analysis used in the translations see here.
The second gospel Threlkeld translated into the local language was Mark. Use the buttons below to access each individual chapter, where an English meaning of every word in Threlkeld's Awabakal translation is provided.
Mark
In the author’s preface to the gospel translation of Luke prepared for Sir George Grey, Threlkeld wrote:
The third revisal [of the Luke gospel] was completed in 1831. I then proceeded with the Gospel of Mark, a selection of prayers from the Book of Common Prayer, in order to commence public worship with the few surviving blacks, a spelling book, and commenced the Gospel by Matthew, when the mission was brought to its final close.
Progress must have been slow, for in his 6th Annual Report at the end of 1836 he wrote:
My present employment is translating the Gospel of Mark, after which, I propose Matthew and John, which with Luke already accomplished, will complete the Evangelists, when they must be compared and diligently revised, in which my eldest son will be able, if it please God, to afford much assistance, from the superior knowledge he has acquired of the aboriginal language.
Here Threlkeld stated his intention of translating all four gospels, and acknowledged the superior language proficiency of his son Joseph, aged 19 at the time.
The facsimile illustration above with two other dates suggests that Threlkeld worked on this gospel over an extended period. The manuscript for it was for a time held by Royal Australian Historical Society Library, Sydney, but was later transferred to the Mitchell Library, perhaps around February 1971.
Jeremy Steele, 3 December 2020