Arriving in Tasmania in 1891, John Bufton served as a Congregationalist minister on the Tasman Peninsula - a parish which covered an extensive area from Carlton to Port Arthur. Briefly transferred to Western Australia, he was forced to abandon his ministry at Bunbury due to health reasons. Bufton returned to Tasmania where he settled in Dunalley, assisting with clerical duties as his health permitted. In 1901, Bufton was reported to have been awarded an honorary PhD from Ewing University, Illinois, for his contribution to Welsh literature, exemplified by such works as Gwen Penri. Noting his passing, the Mercury wrote that Bufton 'was keenly interested in literary matters [and] also much interested in botany and other subjects.' Bufton also published the seminal account of the island's contribution to the Boer conflict, Tasmanians in the Transvaal War (1905).