Shadowing Practice: William Buckley: the Wild White Man - Learn English Speaking with Video

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DES COWLEY: My name's Des Cowley of the Rare Printed Collections at the State Library, Victoria.

What I'm going to show you is a range of early documents and printed material relating to the story of the escaped convict William Buckley.

Now, the earliest recorded document relating to the story is John Batman's journal.

Batman travelled in May of 1835 to Port Phillip with the express purpose of making a treaty with the local Aborigines to acquire 600,000 acres of land.

And it was on the 6th of June in that year that he records having made a treaty with the Aboriginal population.

This is the deed that according to Batman was signed during that visit to Port Phillip and this records the transaction between Batman and the local Aborigines.

Now, we can see the supposed mark of the local chiefs as Batman referred to them and also the marks of the witnesses including Todd.

Batman also had with him seven Aborigines from New South Wales who were meant to act as interpreters.

But of course with different dialects, they were unable to carry out that role.

When Batman returns to Hobart on the 8th of June, 1835, he leaves at his camp three of his servants including William Todd.

Todd's the only literate member of the group and in fact, Batman leaves a small journal with Todd and asks him to keep a record of activities at the camp until he returns.

This is in many ways where the documentary recording of Buckley's story really takes place because it's Todd who records for the very first time Buckley coming into Batman's camp at Indented Head on 6th July and he describes him in some detail.

And Todd, in fact, interestingly enough, records the tattoo on Buckley's arm which has a WB for 'Buckley' and it has a sun and a moon and a small creature.

Buckley at this stage has lost most of his language skills and is unable to communicate.

But when he's given bread, the word 'bread' triggers something and he's suddenly able to start to remember the language he hasn't used since 1803.

Todd's journal, in a sense, records the first meeting, the pivotal moment when Buckley in fact re-enters European society.

In August 1835, John Batman returned to the Port Phillip district, the camp at Indented Head, and brought with him John Helder Wedge, a surveyor who was also a member of the Port Phillip Association.

It was Wedge's role to actually survey the claim of land that in fact had been part of the treaty with the local Aborigines.

This is the very first manuscript map which documents the area and we see on it the camp marked at Indented Head, we see what's referred to as Wedge's Range, we have the track that Batman took on his original survey of the area.

Buckley assisted Wedge on his surveying of the region.

He assisted with Aboriginal words for regions and we see here that Geelong is taken from the Aboriginal.

He helped as an interpreter and in fact, Wedge also names Buckley Falls after William Buckley.

When Wedge carries out his survey of the Port Phillip district, he keeps with him a field book, records the notes of his journey as well as illustrations.

He records, again, details of Buckley.

But what we also find is the very first illustration of William Buckley, sitting there in the camp looking extremely unhappy with his situation.

And again, we see Buckley clothed on the very next page.

When Governor Bourke in New South Wales first hears of Buckley's tale, he finds it fascinating and in fact states,'It would be good if someone could actually take down Buckley's story.' In 1837, the Reverend Langhorne who was based in Port Phillip records Buckley's story for the very first time.

This is actually the manuscript of Langhorne's account.

It only runs to several pages but in fact it's the earliest document that we have where Buckley in fact tells his own story.

Langhorne stated that he found it difficult to converse with Buckley.

Buckley's language skills were still very basic at the time but it's recorded in the first person and Buckley tells a narrative recounting those 32 years.

It's an important document because it's the closest we have to the source and the account of Buckley at the actual time of the events.

It was a little-known document and it wasn't published until the first time in 1911 in The Age newspaper.

In 1848 in April, a fiction about the life of Buckley was published in the Geelong Advertiser.

It was entitled Waroon The Strong: A Tale Illustrative Of The Times Of Buckley.

And it was serialised through a number of issues in the paper over the coming weeks.

It's entirely fictitious work and at one stage has Buckley wielding a cutlass in one of his many battles.

Buckley in fact wrote to the Geelong Advertiser to complain about the inaccuracy of the tale and stated that forthcoming would be a book that told his own story.

In 1852, the story that Buckley mentions in his letter to the Geelong paper is published.

It's entitled The Life And Adventures Of William Buckley.

It's ghosted by John Morgan who was a journalist in Tasmania at the time in Hobart and he states in the introduction that he was approached by Buckley with a view to telling his own story.

The title page and the frontispiece includes a portrait of Buckley done by Ludwig Becker who would later gain fame as the artist on the Burke and Wills expedition.

Now, Morgan's book is extremely important because it's the fullest account we have.

It's hard to know where the ghosting starts and stops but many later commentators believe in fact it's probably a quite accurate record.

A second book on Buckley is published in 1856 by the local historian James Bonwick.

It's entitled the Wild White Man And The Blacks Of Victoria.

In many ways, this is where the phrase 'the wild white man' really enters our culture.

Bonwick never actually met Buckley.

He's very critical of Morgan's account and some commentators have assumed that may be sour grapes because he didn't have the first-hand story himself.

He's quite harsh about Buckley, talks of him being of low intelligence, etc.

Bonwick would in fact offer a much more sympathetic portrait later, in 1883 when he published his massive history of the Port Phillip settlement.

Up till now, it's been very much an Australian story but the News Letter Of Australasia in 1857 publishes the William Buckley story.

Buckley's story for the very first time reaches across to England and is popularised there through the News Letter Of Australasia.

In the last 20 years of the 19th century, an Aboriginal artist Tommy McRae who lived in the Upper Murray region painted a number of sketches.

Amongst these, he included the image of Buckley and it's a very different Buckley that we see from an Indigenous standpoint.

We see Buckley participating in a corroboree.

The title of this particular work is Buckley Ran Away From The Ship, from 1870.

It goes back to the Langhorne account where Buckley speaks of the fact that he was aware at various times of Europeans in the coastal area, possibly sailors, and yet had made decisions not to make contact.

And it's not really until 1980 onwards that Buckley's story returns to us.

One of the key works was Craig Robertson's novel, Buckley's Hope which was published in 1980.

And we also have Barry Hill's - a long sequence of poems - Ghosting William Buckley which was an important work that did a lot to restitute Buckley in the popular imagination.

And Buckley's also been an influence on writers such as David Malouf whose work Remembering Babylon gives a similar account of a European who spends many years in Australia with the Aborigines.

You'll also find imagery that turns up in painters such as Jan Senbergs and Juan Davila so it's interesting in ways that Buckley, as a sense, returned as part of the dialogue that's ongoing in terms of reconciliation today.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “William Buckley: the Wild White Man”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Buckley, record, Batman, Phillip, Port. This video has 63 sentences and 1350 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:14. The speaker talks at a natural 164 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
litter noun	/ˈlɪt.ɚ/	Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.
interpreter noun	/ɪnˈtɝ.pɹɪ.tɚ/	A person or thing that interprets the meaning of something for another, particularly
commentator noun	/ˈkɑmənˌteɪtəɹ/	A person who compiles explanations and critical notes on a text.
manuscript noun	/ˈmæn.jəˌskɹɪpt/	A book, composition or any other document, written by hand (or manually typewritten), not mechanically reproduced.
illustration noun	/ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/	The act of illustrating; the act of making clear and distinct.
clothe verb	/ˈkloʊð/	To adorn or cover with clothing; to dress; to supply clothes or clothing.
converse verb	/kənˈvɝs/	To talk; to engage in conversation.
corroboree noun	/kəˈɹɒbəɹi/	A nocturnal dance held by Aboriginal Australians, for social, celebratory or warlike purposes.
cutlass noun	/ˈkʌtləs/	A short sword with a curved blade, and a convex edge; once used by sailors when boarding an enemy ship.
fascinate verb	/ˈfæsɪneɪt/	To evoke an intense interest or attraction in someone.
fictitious adjective	/fɪkˈtɪʃəs/	Invented; contrived.
frontispiece noun	/ˈfɹʌn.tɪsˌpis/	An illustration that is on the page before the title page of a book, a section of one, or a magazine.
inaccuracy noun	/ɪnˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/	The property of being inaccurate; lack of accuracy.
literate adjective	/ˈlɪtəɹət/	Able to read and write; having literacy.
onward adverb	/ˈɒnwəd/	In a forward direction.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
carry out verb	/ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/	To hold while moving it out.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
run away from verb		To avoid or shirk a problem or consequences; to rush to back away from or disclaim responsibility for something.
take down verb		To remove something from a wall or similar vertical surface to which it is fixed.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was signed · were meant · is taken
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has lost · have assumed · it's been
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	arm which has · Hope which was · Buckley which was

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, hasn't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: clothe /ˈkloʊð/, forthcoming /fɔɹθˈkʌmɪŋ/, sympathetic /ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, fictitious /fɪkˈtɪʃəs/, reconciliation /ˌɹɛkənˌsɪliˈeɪʃ(ə)n/, expedition /ɛkspəˈdɪʃən/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: interpreter /ɪnˈtɝ.pɹɪ.tɚ/, commentator /ˈkɑmənˌteɪtəɹ/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, corroboree /kəˈɹɒbəɹi/, inaccuracy /ɪnˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like litter, interpreter, commentator.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: William Buckley: the Wild White Man - Learn English Speaking with Video

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