Language Ideologies and Language Loss in 19th-Century Victoria: The Translations of William Thomas

Abstract

The small amount of scripture translation into Aboriginal languages that occurred in 19th-century Victoria, Australia, stands in sharp contrast with the enthusiasm for translation in the Pacific Islands during the same period. By focusing on the work of William Thomas, the most prolific of the amateur translators, this article investigates why so little translation was completed. Thomas’s 1858 recommendation for English-only schools, and his discouragement of Aboriginal languages, seems to contradict his initial enthusiasm for translation and his lifelong interest in Aboriginal languages. In particular, I explore the possible influence of three language ideologies on Thomas’s thinking: the Protestant belief in the translatability of scripture, the Herderian connection between language and a people, and the Lockean ideology that certain languages or ways of speaking are obstacles to progress. Ultimately, the devastating decline in the Woiwurrung and Boonwurrung population exerted the most influence on Thomas’s thinking, though it did not curtail his belief in their just claim to substantial and “sacred” reservations of land.