# Matilda Wallace

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, 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. 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.
The Wallaces were some of the earliest settlers in the region, 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.
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 and others such as the Blore brothers, Frederick and George for assistance. 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.
The carrying capacity of Sturts Meadows was about one sheep per 50 acres (20 ha).The vegetation is mainly saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata) and bluebush (Mariana sp.) with scattered mulga (Acacia aneura) and belah (Casuarina cristata), river red gums (Eucalpytus camaldulensis) along ephemeral creeks and a variety of low growing grasses. The climate is typical of an arid region with fairly mild winters and hot summers and low and variable rainfall, averaging about 10 inches (250mm) per annum.
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.
Abraham Wallace secured a lease for a cattle-run in the Northern Territory, establishing Elsey Station in 1881.
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. Shortly after, he died by his own hand after an accident. 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.
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. She was buried in St. Jude's Cemetery, Brighton, with her husband and granddaughter in Section A, Grave No106. Probate for her substantial estate was granted in Melbourne on 15 August 1898.
Matilda is a recognised Barrier region pioneer settler. A silhouette statue stands near Sturts Meadows Station 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 Matilda at Mingary, South Australia in 1867, identified her as the author of an anonymous memoir previously posthumously deposited in the Adelaide Public Library. Mr Lewis also paid a tribute to the wonderful pluck of the woman. It is a big thing to say, but it is questionable whether the annals of the Australian bush reveal a more courageous character among the women pioneers, than was Mrs Abraham Wallace. Her self-told story is indeed an inspiration. Her memoir recounts her experiences since arriving in Australia and was retold and later reprinted in the Mt Gambier South Eastern Times in 1927. Her biographical account has been included in various collections and cited in publications. The original booklet is held at the Holdfast Bay History Centre, Brighton SA together with local history relating to Abraham and Matilda. Although Matilda attended school only until the age of eleven, her memoir is articulate. She wrote: Five days after we had a delightful thunderstorm and rain, which I may say saved our lives, for the extreme heat and privations were telling on us and our animals. The rain filled all the water holes, but was not sufficient to make the feed grow, though it freshened up the dry bushes. She is recognised in the Pioneer Women's Room of the Milparinka Courthouse and History Centre and a photograph archived in the South Australian library collection. A studio photograph of Matilda, her daughter Annie and husband Abraham was taken by Townsend Duryea, Adelaide, about 1877.