Edward Ellis Morris

author

Edward Ellis Morris

1843–1901

Best known for helping document the distinct voice of Australian English, this Victorian-era writer and educator moved between classrooms, criticism, and literary history. His work on language and Australian culture still gives modern readers a vivid sense of a society finding its own words.

1 Audiobook

Austral English : A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

Austral English : A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

About the author

Born in Madras on December 25, 1843, Edward Ellis Morris was educated at Rugby School and Lincoln College, Oxford. He later built much of his career in Australia, where he became headmaster of Melbourne Grammar School and then worked at the University of Melbourne.

Morris wrote across several fields, including history, literary criticism, biography, and language. He is especially remembered for Austral English (1898), an early dictionary of Australasian words and usages that helped record the developing character of Australian speech. He also wrote works such as The Age of Anne, The Early Hanoverians, and a memoir of George Higinbotham.

Alongside his academic and literary work, he took an active part in Melbourne's cultural life, including the Melbourne Shakespeare Society. He died in England on January 1, 1902. No confirmed portrait image was found from the sources reviewed, so a profile image is not included.