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[Page 27] 27
-Memo attached to list of aboriginal words etc -
Owing to the constant employment of aboriginals both men and
women as servants, by our parents my sister and I learn to speak
the language almost as early and nearly as fluently as our
own - My father was a good friend to the blacks, and they
were much attached to him and gave him the natives name
of Murritan, holding some sort of ceremony on the occasion, it
was however before I was born and I cant say what it was -
Before leaving my home at Port Stephens, it occurred to me
that it would be well to compile a list of native words
and ordinary phrases (this was in 1873) and to make it as
reliable as possible. I wrote it from the lips of the two most
intelligent blacks I knew, Fanny and Billy Steward, the
former was laundress in our house for over (15) fifteen years -
It is very difficult to convey the correct pronunciation of
many of the words by means of an alphabet but my
acquaintance with the language of course was an assistance
in my endeavour to do so - Any futile attempt to pronounce
a word would cause the greatest merriment to the blacks -
On revisiting Port Stephens in 1914 I found that with one exception
an elderly man - none of the blacks knew anything of the old
language - the first one I spoke to in it responded in perfecr
English with " I dont understand you -
Mr Scott
7/4/1918