Among Australian languages the Tasmanian Aboriginal languages are a special case. The island of Tasmania has been separated from the mainland for perhaps 12 000 years, since the ending of the last ice age. While there is some speculation about whether Tasmanian languages—and scholars estimate there were between half a dozen and as many as twelve—were Australian languages at all, they probably were. Since prior to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the Aboriginal people h

Rev. Jakob Wilhelm Günther, 1832 [source: Basel Mission QS30.001.009.01] Reverend James [Jakob Wilhelm] Günther was a German-born missionary, appointed by the Church Missionary Society to its mission in Wellington N.S.W. in August 1837, where he stayed until the mission was disbanded in 1843. During his time in Wellington, Günther compiled Wiradjuri wordlists and studied its grammar. He subsequently became a chaplain to convicts, and later archdeacon at Mudgee.