John (or Johan) Frederick Henry Wohlers (originally Johann Friedrich Heinrich Wohlers, 1 October 1811 – 7 May 1885) was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

missionary from Germany who lived for 41 years on

Ruapuke Island Ruapuke Island is one of the southernmost islands in New Zealand's main chain of islands. It is located to the southeast of Bluff and northeast of Oban on Stewart Island. It was named "Bench Island" upon its discovery by Captain James Cook i ...

, a small island in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's deep south. Wohlers was born in the

North German Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

hamlet of Mahlensdorf, near

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, to Johann Gerd Wohlers and his wife Margarethe ( Ahlers). He went to a mission school, and was then sent by the North German Missionary Society to New Zealand, where the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...

was establishing new settlements. He left Germany on an emigrant ship the ''St Pauli'' in 1842, going first to

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

where there were a number of German settlers. He went south on the ship ''Deborah'' in 1844 after he was invited by the Kāi Tahu chief Tūhawaiki to make his headquarters on

. He built a church in 1846 and had a bell with "Ruapuki" cast on it sent out from Bremen by the North German Missionary Society. He married Eliza Hanham in Wellington in 1849, and they had one daughter, Gretchen. Wohlers died on 7 May 1885 at The Neck on Stewart Island; he was survived by his wife for six years. Both are buried at Ringaringa near

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

. A memorial to the Wohlers was built above Ringaringa Beach looking out towards Ruapuke Island. The "Ruapuki" bell came into the ownership of Māori elder John Topi Patuki. In 1900, it was installed at the bell tower of St Andrew's Anglican Church in Oban. The writer and naturalist Sheila Natusch was Wohlers's great-granddaughter.

References

1811 births 1885 deaths Lutheran missionaries in New Zealand German Lutheran missionaries Clergy from Bremen (city) German expatriates in New Zealand People from Ruapuke Island 19th-century German Lutheran clergy {{NewZealand-reli-bio-stub

Further reading

References