Matilda Wallace

Wallace c. 1880

Matilda Wallace (November 1838 - 21 January 1898 née Hill), was a 19th century pioneer Australian pastoralist. Born in High Ham, Somerset, England to Sarah and George Hill, she emigrated to Australia aboard the North, a 1,238-ton sailing ship, departing Liverpool on October 31, 1858,[1] joining members of her family in Coromandel Valley, in the Colony of South Australia. She was a twenty-year old (dairy maid) sponsored by brother, Robert Hill. Wallace and her husband Abraham were for many years frontier sheep and cattle farmers, which she documented in a memoir.

Sheep and cattle farming

In 1863, Matilda and her husband, Abraham Wallace, departed from Mount Gambier with a wagon, two horses, bedding, and provisions to search for land in Queensland. Their journey led them to Mount Murchison, 16 kilometres from Wilcannia on the Darling River, where they briefly opened a store. Due to governmental entry restrictions for livestock into Queensland, they returned to Adelaide. A year later, they returned to the Barrier region of the Colony of New South Wales with two men, 25 horses, 1,400 sheep, and supplies for 18 months. They intended to settle at the frontier of white settlement.[2][3] Instead, they entered a nomadic phase, moving throughout the Fowlers Gap area to meet their livestock's need for water and feed. Despite the arid climate, wool production proved economically viable.[4]

The Wallaces were some of the earliest settlers in the region,[5] with a pastoral run, Sturts Meadows, located approximately 110 kilometres north of Broken Hill. The property was formally leased in September 1869 and the prior occupant, squatter George Raines, displaced.[6]

The main water source at Sturts Meadows was the intermittent Caloola Creek, thus the Wallaces had to frequently relocate during droughts, seeking water at locations such as Cobham Lake. Matilda managed the property independently during her husband's frequent absences, relying on Aboriginal people for assistance.[7] In her memoir, Matilda noted the serious threat dingoes posed to the sheep she shepherded. They target the outliers from the flock, chase, panic and kill them.

Wallace gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann Sarah Wallace, on January 28, 1871, at Menindee. Pregnant again, she travelled to Adelaide late in 1872 for family support, giving birth to Alfred Abey Tom Whitfield Wallace, on January 24, 1873. Both children were baptized at Holy Trinity Church, the first Anglican Church in Adelaide. After her son died, she began writing her memoir, "Twelve Years' Life in Australia, from 1859 to 1871", which was typeset and posthumously deposited in the Adelaide Public Library.[8]

Abraham Wallace secured a lease for a cattle-run in the Northern Territory, establishing Elsey Station in 1881.[9][10]

After retiring in 1884, Wallace re-joined his wife and bought a substantial home at Reynella, The Braes, designed by the eminent Adelaide architect, Sir Charles S Kingston, and built in 1868.[11]Shortly after, he died by his own hand after an accident.[12] Matilda was left to oversee two properties, Elsey River Station and Sturts Meadows, each having a resident manager. The Elsey property was sold several years after Abraham's death but Matilda still owned property in NSW in 1891.[13]

In 1892, Matilda sold her home and moved to a rented cottage at Port Adelaide to be closer to family. Following a period of illness, starting in 1896, she moved in with her daughter, living at Largs Bay, South Australia, where she passed away on January 21, 1898, at the age of 60.[14] She was buried in St. Jude's Cemetery, Brighton, alongside her husband and granddaughter.[15] Probate for her substantial estate was granted in Melbourne on 15th August, 1898.

Matilda is a recognised Barrier region pioneer settler. A silhouette statue stands near Sturts Meadows Station[16] and the Matilda Wallace Barrier Ranges Lookout located Lat: -31.386975 Lng: 141.611988

Memoir

In 1922, A. T. Saunders, with the help of John Lewis who had met Matila at Mingary, South Australia in 1867, identified her as the author of an anonymous memoir previously posthumously deposited in the Adelaide Public Library.[17] Her memoir recounts her experiences since arriving in Australia and was retold and later reprinted in the Mt Gambier South Eastern Times in 1927.[18] Her biographical account has been included in various collections[19][20] and cited in publications.[21][22] She is recognised in the Pioneer Women's Room of the Milparinka Courthouse and History Centre[23] and a photograph archived in the South Australian library collection.[24]

References

1. "passenger list North". South Australian Register. 1859 – via Trove.
2. "Overland travel". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
3. "Click go the shears" (PDF). Retrieved 18 January 2025.
4. "Fowlers Gap". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
5. "U*nincorporated Area of NSW Heritage Study=18 January 2025" (PDF).
6. Sir Sidney Kidman (1857–1935). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
7. Matilda Wallace (1870s). Twelve years' life in Australia, from 1859 to 1871. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Trove.
8. "Matilda Wallace: Connections". Retrieved 30 January 2025 – via Trove.
9. Elofson, W. M. (2015) So far and yet so close: Frontier cattle ranching in western prairie Canada and the Northern Territory of Australia, Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press.
10. "Elsey Station and the Wallace connection". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
11. "Meadows Heritage" (PDF). Retrieved 18 January 2025.
12. "Death of Abraham". Adelaide Observer. 1884. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Trove.
13. "Pastoral Possessions". South Eastern Times. 29 July 1927. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Trove.
14. "Death of Matilda". Chronicle. 1898. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Trove.
15. "Wallace Gravestone". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
16. "Silhouette statue". Monument Australia. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
17. "Notes and Queries". South Australian Register. 5 June 1922 – via Trove.
18. "Pioneers of the South-East". South Eastern Times. 29 July 1927. Retrieved 18 January 2025 – via Trove.
19. Australian Autobiographical Narratives: An Annotated Bibliography, Volume 2 Walsh, K. & Hooten, J. W. National Library Australia, 1993 ISBN 0642107947, 9780642107947
20. "Matilda Wallace Memoir". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
21. Hardy, B. (1977) West of the Darling, Rigby Seal Books, Adelaide Bib ID: 1083617
22. Adams, C. (2008). Way out west: Pastoral stories of western New South Wales. Ocean Publishing, Joondalup, W.A. ISBN:9781920783860
23. "Milparinka Pioneer Women's Room". Retrieved 18 January 2025.
24. "Matilda Wallace". Retrieved 18 January 2025.