William WALKER

WALKER, WILLIAM (b. England, 1800, d. Australia, 23 Nov 1855). First missionary to Aborigines.

Trained for Wesleyan ministry in England, Walker was appointed by WMS to 'the black natives of New South Wales' in 1820. He arrived in Sydney in Sept 1821. He married Elizabeth Hassall, daughter of Rowland Hassall (q.v.), in 1823, and they had three sons and two daughters. Concluding that 'traversing the woods' with Aborigines would be ineffective, Walker befriended Sydney Aborigines, baptising the first Aboriginal convert, Thomas Coke Walker Bennelong, son of the famed Bennelong, and another youth named Jemmy. Walker found it difficult to determine the most appropriate role for himself, a problem exacerbated by tensions in the colony between clergy and secular authorities, between clergy of different denominations, between Wesleyan clergy and their Overseas Committee in London, and among Wesleyan clergy themselves. His plans for some educational institutions for Aboriginal people were never given enough support to be realised fully. Walker associated himself with government institutions such as Governor Macquarie's Native Institution, and the Female Orphan School. Walker came under severe criticism from his fellow clergy for these roles. He was dismissed as a missionary, quite unjustly, and he resigned his secular roles in 1826.

Walker successfully took up pastoral pursuits but remained popular with Wesleyan families, conducting unofficial services in his own home. He was considered highly intelligent and 'a preacher of extraordinary power'. Governor Brisbane declared him to be 'the best educated man in the colony'. The Rev Joseph Orton (q.v.), a later chairman of the Wesleyan's NSW district rated Walker 'a clever man ... injudiciously managed by those who were placed over him'. Unfortunately, on Walker's death in 1855, his request that his many manuscripts be destroyed was carried out.

ADB 2; Bonwick Transcripts (Box 53, ML); James Colwell, The Illustrated History of Methodism, Australia (Sydney, 1904); John Harris, One Blood (Sutherland NSW, 1990); HRA I (1), 10-15

JOHN HARRIS