Europe to act as executive commissioner for Victoria at the Paris International Exhibition of 1889, for his services in connection with which he was created an officer of the Legion of Honour. He died in England on Jan. 23rd, 1889.
Wallace, William Vincent, the eminent musical composer, was the son of Samuel Wallace, bandmaster of the 17th Regiment, with which he was for some time stationed in Sydney, N.S.W. The future musician was born at Waterford, Ireland, on March 11th, 1815. He was placed in the orchestra of the Hawkins Street Theatre, Dublin, when he was fourteen, and took the direction when he was sixteen. In 1835, being in delicate health, he went to Australia, with the intention of abandoning music, and turning his hand to the hard work of colonial pioneering. He spent some time in the New South Wales "bush," to the west of Sydney, but ultimately decided to give a concert in the metropolis, for which he secured the patronage of the then governor, Sir Richard Bourke. It was given in aid of the building fund of the Roman Catholic Cathedral, and its success may be judged from the fact that £1000 was realised for the object desired. Mr. Wallace now applied himself vigorously to composition in private, and violin playing in public. He also gave lessons on the latter instrument. He travelled professionally through the Australasian colonies, and, as narrated by Mr. Hogan, was made prisoner in New Zealand by a band of Maoris, who would have promptly murdered him but for the interposition of the chiefs daughter. He also went on a whaling voyage with a native crew who mutinied, when he had another very narrow escape of losing his life. Subsequently, his health having in the meantime improved, he proceeded to India, South America, Mexico and the United States, returning in 1845 to London, where he completed his opera Maritana, a great part of which had been scored in Sydney. This opera was produced with great success at Drury Lane Theatre, and his fame as a composer was established. He afterwards wrote Matilda of Hungary, Amber Witch, Lurline, Love's Triumph, and The Desert Flower. In 1864 he went to Paris, and died on Oct. 12th, 1865.
Wallen, Robert Elias, J.P., son of Francis Robertson Wallen and Catherine (Hobson) his wife, was born on June 5th, 1831, in Trinidad, and educated in Philadelphia, and at Foyle College, Londonderry, Ireland, from 1835 to 1848, when he entered a merchant's office in Liverpool. In 1852 he emigrated to Victoria, and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he varied by literary work. Mr. Wallen is known throughout Australia under the pseudonym of "Ægles" the signature under which he for twenty years contributed to the Leader and Australasian. He was the founder of the Australasian Insurance and Banking Record, which he edited for nine years. In this connection he was elected Fellow of the Institute of Bankers, London (being the second of only two lay Fellows in the Institute), and was also accorded the Fellowship of the Royal Statistical Society of London. Mr. Wallen was twice mayor of Hawthorn, and is a justice of the peace for the central bailiwick. He was one of the earliest volunteers in the Victoria Yeomanry Cavalry, was for many years president of the Art Union of Victoria, and was the first chairman of the Melbourne Stock Exchange—a post to which he was twice afterwards re-elected. He married in Melbourne on May 21st, 1863, Miss Marian May Pitman, and is a partner in the firm of Clarke & Co., stockbrokers, Melbourne.
Walsh, Hon. Robert, son of Michael Walsh, a Dublin merchant, was born at Rathfarnham, near that city, and was educated at Chaill's Blackrock School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he took his degree in 1846, with a moderatorship in logic and ethics. In Nov. 1847 he was called to the Irish Bar, and in 1853 emigrated to Victoria, where he practised his profession at Ballarat for some years from 1855. In 1871 he entered the Legislative Assembly for Ballarat East, and was Attorney-General in the Duffy Ministry from July of that year till June 1872. At the following General Election he did not stand for Parliament, and has since devoted himself to the practice of his profession in Melbourne. In Dec. 1886 he was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the metropolitan district, and in 1892 conducted the case for the prosecution against the murderer Deeming.
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