children named Tyilye and Tallerilla*, about 10 and 12 years old. Munta and Tubu were among our companions to Mallei, and the former was in my house ( 126 ) at the time when the news of Biddle's murder arrived. The white people are so cruel.

Mr. Driver says this slaughter should continue until they hand over the culprits. But it has not been proven at all that the guilty are among them; perhaps it is likely, as they also claim, that the murderers are higher up to the north.

May 10th, 1842.
Wornawa, whom the Adelaide native Jack had chosen as his wife, left this morning, taking the latter's blanket with her, no doubt in the belief that it had been given to her.

[From here there is a break of 2 ½ years in the diary. It doesn't continue until the end of 1844.]

{During the period described, Schürmann decided that his efforts to mediate as a [sub]Protector between the settlers and the natives had remained fruitless.

He therefore informed the Dresden Missionary Society on August 22, 1842 that he intended to give up his connection to the government at the end of the year. On September 30, 1842, Governor Grey dismissed him from his employment.
However, he, Grey, was able to persuade the mission to remain in Port Lincoln by promising to continue providing the Lutheran Mission of South Australia with the sum of £100 for a year.

Schürmann continued to carry out his duties as an interpreter and to represent the indigenous people in court. This also meant traveling to Adelaide and visiting the condemned. But since the witness statements could not be verified and the settlers in Port Lincoln opposed the natives at all levels, he could do little more than make visits and facilitate the stay in prison.

Towards the end of 1843 and the beginning of 1844 Schürmann was in close contact with the Barngala tribe and two clever boys were at his house in Port Lincoln. This enabled him to make good progress in learning the Barngala language and in 1844 he published, at government expense, his “Vocabulary of the Barngala Language as Spoken by the Aborigines Living on the West Coast of the Spencer Gulf”. He added a collection of grammar rules. He hoped this would allow the settlers to communicate better with the natives there. At the same time, he shared his insights into the customs and beliefs of the natives with others, such as the artist George French Angas and the later Protector of the Natives, Edward John Eyre.