Within the Maitland community the Eipper name is principally associated with John William Christopher Eipper (1840-1905), who for several years late in his life was editor and part-owner of the Maitland Mercury. His father Christoff Eipper also deserves to be remembered, not least because of his early work as a missionary in the colony.
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Christoff Eipper was born in 1813 in the south-western German state of Wrttemberg. Very devout, he felt called to be a missionary. Between 1832 and 1836 he studied with the Basel Missionary Society (Switzerland) and then continued his studies in England.
Eipper rejected ordination in the Church of England because he would not submit to unlimited obedience to a bishop. However, in 1837 he applied to the Rev John Dunmore Lang for appointment as a missionary to the Aborigines at Moreton Bay. When accepted, he submitted to ordination in an Evangelical service.
Prior to ordination Christoff Eipper married Harriet Gyles, her father, a missionary agriculturist. The couple sailed from Scotland with the Moreton Bay mission group in September 1837 and arrived in Sydney in January 1838. In Sydney Rev Eipper was admitted as a member of Lang's Presbyterian Synod. The Eippers then sailed with 14 other missionaries to Moreton Bay. The group, which included other Germans, selected a mission site they named Zion Hill. A second site was subsequently selected in the Mary River district.
Rev Eipper was a competent teacher and linguist. He learned the Turrbal language and travelled extensively within the mission area. He kept a diary and wrote several reports of his observations. He also documented the positive work the group was doing in his Statement of the Origin, Condition, and Prospects of the German Mission to the Aborigines at Moreton Bay (Sydney, 1841).
In October 1843 the Sydney committee of the Society in Aid of the German Mission to the Aborigines terminated its financial support. One explanation was increasing concern regarding the influence of the Germans in the northern region. The withdrawal of funding left Rev Eipper in a difficult position, particularly as he was married with a young family. He initially decided to remain in Moreton Bay with several lay missionaries and to support himself through manual labour. In 1844 he left for Sydney and was received by the Synod of Australia of the Established Church of Scotland.
The Synod appointed him to Braidwood as the Presbyterian minister. Rev Eipper took up residence in Braidwood's Strathallan house, which became the centre of his parish. He went on alternate months to minister at Limestone Plains (now in the ACT) and Broulee.
In 1847 he was sent to the Paterson Presbyterian charge, a position he held until 1850. While there he was also on the boards of three schools: Paterson, Lewinsbrook and Lennoxton. These latter two in the Vacy-Gresford area.
In 1851, at 38, Christoff Eipper decided to leave the ministry. He subsequently held several teaching positions including at Richmond Vale, Muswellbrook, Scone and Aberdeen.
Christoff Eipper and Harriet had eight children. He died in the Braidwood district in 1894.
