Jakob Wilhelm Günther
Jakob Wilhelm Günther was a missionary who worked in Australia and was born in Germany.
Before the Missions
Günther was born in Oberschwandorf (near Nagold in Württemberg) on 12 May 1806. He was trained at the Basel Mission Society and then commenced his training at the Church Mission Society (CMS) in 1833. After, he was ordained into the Anglican ministry in London. During this time he met and married his wife Lydia Paris.
In Australia
He worked for six years at the CMS mission in Wellington Valley from 1837 to 1843 and from 1840 he was the head of the mission, taking over after Rev. William Watson in 1840.
His work at the CMS Mission in Australia involved creating a primer for the local Indigenous Australian language (Wiradjuri) which was eventually published in 1892.
Also, Günther was known as a hard marker when it came to becoming a 'Christian European'. Günther was part of the European mind that in converting to Christianity the person must renounce their entire faith, deny everything that made them whole and the society in which they live and becoming wholly European. For the surrounding Indigenous people that was almost too much to ask and may account for the low number of conversions that happened at the CMS during his time.
At the time of the disbanding of the CMS Mission there were no baptisms of the local Indigenous tribes. One potential man named Cochrane who Günther had high hopes for is noted to have a conversation with Günther. When Günther tried to question the leadership of the elder tribesman of Cochrane’s tribe Günther asked; 'Why do you obey the old men?' to which Cochrane replied: 'Why do you obey the governor?'
After the Wellington Valley CMS was disbanded when the NSW government took its funding Günther became a chaplain for convicts. He then moved to become archdeacon at Mudgee until his death on 20 December 1879 at the age of 73.