This thesis examines and analyses the linguistic data in the papers of the Reverend William Thomas (1793-1867) in the Mitchell Library, Sydney (Thomas MS 214). This data was found to refer mainly to the Aboriginal language of the Melbourne area, described by Blake and Reid (1998) as the Central Victorian Language.word listswathawurrung, wathaurong, boonwurrung, boon wurrung, woiwurrung, thagungwurrung, djadjawurrung, tjapwurrung, wergaia, wemba baraba, wemba wemba, yeti, madhi madhi, ledji, wadi, nari nari, wimmera, ballarat, bacchus marsh, gippsland, mount gambier, wonnin, john green, george augustus robinson, r h mathews, luise hercus, linguistics, sociolinguistics