James Hardy Vaux
by Mark Gwynn
On the 5th of July 1812 the first dictionary ever compiled in Australia was presented to the Commandant of Newcastle (NSW) by one of the prisoners under his charge—James Hardy Vaux, a petty criminal. At this time Newcastle was a secondary penal settlement for more hardened and inveterate prisoners. This was Vaux’s second period of transportation to Australia for theft—he was sentenced to twelve months hard labour for receiving stolen goods in Sydney.
Elsie Murray (left) and Rosfrith Murray (right), lexicographers on the first edition of the OED, pictured with their father James Murray, Editor of the OED (centre front) and back row: A. T. Maling, F. J. Sweatman, F. A. Yockney.
by Sarah Ogilvie
On International Women’s Day, it seems appropriate to pay tribute to female dictionary-makers, present and past. Australia has had its fair share of English-language dictionary specialists including Jay Arthur, Ann Atkinson, Maureen Brooks, Pauline Bryant, Sue Butler, June Factor, Bernadette Hince, Joan Hughes, Dorothy Jauncey, Lenie (Midge) Johansen, Nancy Keesing, Anne Knight, Amanda Laugesen, Alison Moore, Sarah Ogilvie, Pam Peters, Joan Ritchie, and Julia Robinson. As a young lexicographer at the Australian National Dictionary Centre in the early 1990s, I was surprised to discover that every lexicographer, except for the Director, was a woman. Globally, there are also prominent women: Katherine Barber (Canada), Dianne Bardsley (New Zealand), Jean Branford (South Africa), Joan Houston Hall (USA), Judy Pearsall (UK), and Penny Silva (South Africa), to name just a few.