John Bulmer (1833-1913), missionary and clergyman, came to Australia in 1852 and worked as a cabinetmaker in Melbourne for two years before going to the goldfields. Here he witnessed the 'wicked way in which the Aborigines were treated' and decided to help them by volunteering for missionary work. In 1855, he was sent to assist in establishing a mission station at Yelta, west of Mildura on the Murray River. Here, he married schoolteacher Marianne Stocks. He remained at Yelta until returning to Melbourne where Marianne died in early 1861. Bulmer then travelled to Gippsland and, guided by local Aboriginal men, selected a site for a mission station at Lake Tyers. Bulmer is believed to have chosen the site for its isolation from white settlement; its distance from 'auriferous areas'; and because it would enable the station a degree of self-sufficiency as a favoured hunting and fishing place for the local Gunai/Kurnai people. Bulmer and his second wife, Caroline (née Blay, d. 1918) commenced work at the Lake Tyers Mission Station in 1862, building a church, school, and houses for the residents while also encouraging them to maintain some traditional customs and practices. Bulmer operated somewhat independently of the Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines and was sometimes engaged in disagreements with them - notably over the introduction of the Aborigines Protection Act (1886), which threatened to split a number of Lake Tyers families. Bulmer was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1904. In 1907, the Board removed him from the position of manager of the Lake Tyers station, reluctantly permitting him to remain there for 'religious duties' until his death in 1913. Despite his typical evangelical zeal, Bulmer was unusual among his contemporaries for recognising the merits of Aboriginal customs and laws. A sympathetic and accurate observer of Aboriginal life, Bulmer's personal papers are now in the collection of Museum Victoria and are considered among the most important early accounts of Gunai/Kurnai culture.
