An Australian grammar : comprehending the principles and natural rules of the language, as spoken by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Hunter's River, Lake Macquarie, &c. New South Wales is a book written by Lancelot Edward Threlkeld and published in Sydney in 1834. It is a grammar of the Awabakal language. In 1892 a revised and much expanded version was published by ethnologist John Fraser, as An Australian Language as Spoken by the Awabakal..., in which he and other contributors added much text, several appendices, and a map of the tribes of New South Wales as frontispiece. Description An Australian grammar : comprehending the principles and natural rules of the language, as spoken by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Hunter's River, Lake Macquarie, &c. New South Wales (1834), by English missionary Lancelot Threlkeld, is a description of what is now referred to as the Awabakal language, spoken by people in the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales, Australia. Revised and expanded version In 1892, ethnologist and linguist John Fraser republished a greatly expanded version of Threlkeld's work, as An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal, the people of Awaba or Lake Macquarie (near Newcastle, New South Wales) being an account of their language, traditions and customs / by L.E. Threlkeld; re-arranged, condensed and edited with an appendix by John Fraser. In the preface, Fraser writes: "...but we have now come to know that this dialect was essentially the same as that spoken by the sub-tribes occupying the land where Sydney now stands, and that they all formed part of one great tribe, the Kuriggai". The book included a "Map of New South Wales as occupied by the native tribes", accompanied by descriptions and names decided upon by Fraser after "ten years' thought and inquiry on the location of our native tribes". The book was very influential, but not without its critics. Norman Tindale (1974) later wrote that there was such a "literary need for major groupings that [Fraser] set out to provide them for New South Wales, coining entirely artificial terms for his 'Great tribes'. These were not based on field research and lacked aboriginal support. His names such as Yunggai, Wachigari and Yakkajari can be ignored as artifacts". Comparison of contents 1834 edition The contents of Threlkeld's work are as follows: Introductory remarks Part 1: Pronunciation and Orthography (three chapters: Pronunciation; Orthography;