Diary of C.W. Schürmann

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Clamor Schürmann was a 23-year-old missionary from Dresden when he arrived in Adelaide in October 1838. By Christmas the following year he could start teaching school in Kaurna laguage to Kaurna children. Even Elder Mullawirraburka sent his children to the riverbank school. In 1840 with his colleague Christian Teichelmann Schürmann published a Kaurna grammar and dictionary. He accepted an invitation from Kaurna men to join a five-day kangaroo hunt. On trips to Encounter Bay he became conversant with the Ngarindjeri language.</span><span></span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In September 1840 however Governor Gawler asked Schürmann to transfer to the troubled settlement at Port Lincoln there to serve as Sub-Protector of Aborigines. Unlike in Adelaide Schürmann found it frustratingly difficult to make contact with the local Barngarla (Parnkalla) people. He persisted nevertheless and in 1844 was able to publish a grammar and dictionary in Barngarla.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Relations between settlers and locals on Eyre Peninsula kept deteriorating as settlement expanded leading Schürmann to resign. Later at North Shields via Port Lincoln he returned to his beloved vocation as a teacher of Aboriginal children.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>During his days in Adelaide and Port Lincoln Schürmann kept a diary in German documenting his experiences with the British colonists the different German groups and First Nations peoples. His diary is published in full here for the first time in Greg Lockwood's meticulous and lively translation.</span></p><p></p>