William Thomas Wallis

  General Notes:

Extract from The Cyclopedia of Victoria, Vol 2. P. 440.
William Thomas Wallis, of "Taranaki", Ryrie Street, Geelong, was born at Penzance, Cornwall, on 20th August 1849, and is a son of Mr. John Wallis, the well-known contractor of Brunswick, near Melbourne. He came to Victoria with his parents in the year 1854, and was educated for commercial life. At the age of fourteen he entered the service of Mr. Edward Glew, corn merchant, Brunswick, in order to learn the grain trade, and, after a stay there of some duration, obtained an appointment with Messrs. Wilson, Hardy and Co., produce merchants, Flinders Street, Melbourne, of which firm he was, at the end of a few years, admitted as a partner. He remained in this business for some considerable time, and then retired from it, starting on his own account in Queen Street, Melbourne, as a produce merchant in the grain produce trade. He was very successful in this line, and at the end of ten years, having acquired a competency, he retired from commercial pursuits, and took a pleasure trip around the world, visiting his native town, and spending a considerable time on the Continent and in America. Mr. Wallis has always taken a lively interest in public matters, and when living in Hawthorn he was for eleven years a member of the Hawthorn Town Council, filling the office of Mayor of that important city in 1884-5. He was appointed a justice of the peace in 1883 for the Central Bailiwick, and, on his settling in Geelong, was transferred to the Southern Bailiwick. He has been a member of the committee of the Geelong Hospital, and is a director of the County of Bourke Building Society Board, which society weathered the collapse following upon the bursting of the Victorian land boom in 1892, paid its creditors in full and is now (1901) in a prosperous condition, paying regular dividends. Mr. Wallis is married to a daughter of the Rev. H. Groube, and has a family of two sons and seven daughters. He was one of the promoters (and a director for many years) of the Australian Tesselated Tile Company, Mitcham, which is now producing tiles equal to those imported, and favourable known on account of their high quality in the markets of all the Australian States. Mr. Wallis is a member of the Geelong Town Council, having been elected representative for the Bellarine Ward in June, 1901.

Argus (Melbourne, Vic) Monday 24 December 1923.
WALLIS - GROUBE. - (Golden Wedding) - On the 24th December, 1873, at South Melbourne, by the Rev. J. W. Bentley, Baptist minister, Brunswick, William Thomas, son of the late John Wallis, contractor, Brunswick, to Victorine, daughter of the late Rev, Horatio Groube, of Brunswick. (Present address, Westella, 29 Kinkora road, Hawthorn.)

Argus (Melbourne, Vic) Wednesday 25 June 1930.
OAKWOOD PARK SOLD.
Oakwood Park, Prince's Highway, Dandenong, was bought yesterday at auction by Mr. W. T. Wallis, of Hawthorn, for 55 pound an acre. Forming part of the estate of the late Mr. W. A. Gibson, Oakwood Park comprised a substantial homestead and slightly more than 141 acres of well wooded country, so that the total price paid was about 7,800 pounds. The sale was conducted at the Albion Hotel, Dandenong, by Messrs Coghill and Haugton and Mr. Alexander Scott.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Grain Merchant And Investor.

• connection.

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William married Victorine Groube, daughter of Reverend Horatio Groube and Sarah Ann Good, on 24 Dec 1873 in South Melbourne, Victoria Australia. (Victorine Groube was born on 28 Jan 1851 in New Plymouth, Taranaki New Zealand, died on 24 Oct 1925 in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria Australia and was buried on 26 Oct 1925 in Kew Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria Australia.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Certificate: (4641).

William next married Martha Emma (Emma) Thistlethwaite, daughter of John Thistlethwaite and Hannah Hurren, in 1926 in Victoria Australia. (Martha Emma (Emma) Thistlethwaite was born in 1857 in Emerald Hill (Now Albert Park in South Melbourne), Victoria Australia, died on 11 Jul 1930 in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria Australia and was buried on 12 Jul 1930 in Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, Victoria Australia.)