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An Initiative of the Friends of the University of Adelaide Library

The Aboriginal tribes of Port Lincoln in South Australia: their mode of life, manners, customs, etc.

Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann (1815-1893)
Adelaide: George Dehane, 1846

Rare Books & Special Collections
Strong Room Collection SR 572.9942 S39

We thank our donor...

Conservation treatment of The Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln... was generously funded by Adopt-a-book donor, Jane Walkley.  Her valued contribution has ensured this important piece on South Australian history will be available for future generations of researchers for many years to come.

Synopsis

Clamor Wilhelm Schürmann was born in 1815 in Schledehausen, Hannover. Following in his brother’s footsteps, he applied to Jänicke’s Missionschule in Berlin in 1832 where he studied Latin, English, Greek and Hebrew, as well as geography, theology and world history. Although Schürmann declined a call from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts for missionaries to serve in India, he was eventually ordained as a Lutheran Pastor in 1838 and found his way on board the Pestonjee Bomanjee to South Australia. Together with Christian Gottlieb Teichelmann, he founded the first school for Aborigines in South Australia at Piltawoodli, near Adelaide gaol. Soon after, they published Outlines of a Grammar: Vocabulary and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia, Spoken by the Natives in and for Some Distance Around Adelaide (1840), which included some 2000 words of what is now known as the Kaurna language. Their work became an invaluable resource for modern Kaurna language reclamation. By September 1840, Schürmann had taken up the position of Deputy-protector of Aborigines at Port Lincoln. He often accompanied police investigations, acting as an interpreter and travelling to Adelaide for court proceedings. He opened a school with instruction in the Parnkalla language at nearby Wallala and in 1846, published The Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln. His missionary work and documentation of the indigenous languages in the Adelaide and Port Lincoln regions are an enduring legacy.

Original Condition

Paperback with multiple tears to front and rear covers. Paper also missing from cover corners. Open tears to title page and pages 1 to 7. Significant staining to the top of pages 7 to 16. Front and rear covers beginning to detach from textblock.

Restoration by Anthony Zammit

The paper from the front cover was delaminated and new paper, onto which the orginal cover could be reattached, was dyed to match. A new cloth spine was also created and dyed to match the cover. The bookplate was reattached, all page edges were repaired and the textblock was resewn. All tears were repaired with Japanese repair paper.

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Phone: +61 8 8313 5224
special.collections@adelaide.edu.au