[Index]

Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS (1811 - 1861)

grazier, politician, MLA

Children	Self + Spouses	Parents	Grandparents	Greatgrandparents
Thomas Wentworth Spencer WILLS (1835 - 1880) Emily Spencer WILLS (1842 - 1925) Cedric Spencer WILLS (1844 - 1914) Horace Spencer WILLS (1847 - 1928) Egbert Spencer WILLS (1849 - 1931) Elizabeth Spencer WILLS (1852 - 1930) Eugenie Spencer WILLS (1854 - 1937) Minna Spencer WILLS (1856 - 1943) Hortense Sarah Spencer WILLS (1861 - 1907)	Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS (1811 - 1861) + Elizabeth WYRE MCGUIRE (1817 - 1907)	Edward Spencer WILLS (1778 - 1811)	Edward WILLS (1741 - 1814)
			Elizabeth (WILLS) (1739 - 1822)
		Sarah HARDING (1776 - 1823)	Thomas HARDING
			Sarah Elizabeth (HARDING)

Pic 2. The grave of Horatio Wills is among several monuments to white deaths at Cullin-la-ringo, but experts say there is little acknowledgment of an Aboriginal death toll that might be as high as 370.(Supplied: Wills Family Archive/Bradman Museum Collection)

b. 05 Oct 1811 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

m. 02 Dec 1833 Elizabeth WYRE MCGUIRE (1817 - 1907) at Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia

d. 17 Oct 1861 at Emerald, Queensland, Australia aged 50

Near Relatives of Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS (1811 - 1861)
Relationship	Person	Born	Birth Place	Died	Death Place	Age
Grandfather	Edward WILLS	abt 1741		abt 09 Jan 1814	Covent Garden, London, Middlesex, England	73
Grandmother	Elizabeth (WILLS)	abt 1739		abt 10 Mar 1822	Covent Garden, London, Middlesex, England	83
Grandfather	Thomas HARDING
Grandmother	Sarah Elizabeth (HARDING)
Father in Law	Michael WYRE MCGUIRE
Mother in Law	Jane WALLACE
Father	Edward Spencer WILLS	13 Aug 1778	Middlesex, England	14 May 1811	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	32
Mother	Sarah HARDING	01 Aug 1776	Middlesex, England	08 Jul 1823	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	46
Self	Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS	05 Oct 1811	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	17 Oct 1861	Emerald, Queensland, Australia	50
Wife	Elizabeth WYRE MCGUIRE	abt 1817	New South Wales, Australia	28 Dec 1907	Kew, Victoria, Australia	90
Son	Thomas Wentworth Spencer WILLS	19 Aug 1835	Molonglo Plains, New South Wales, Australia	02 May 1880	Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia	44
Daughter	Emily Spencer WILLS	25 Dec 1842		06 Dec 1925		82
Son	Cedric Spencer WILLS	01 Dec 1844	Lexington, Victoria, Australia	23 Jan 1914	Queensland, Australia	69
Son	Horace Spencer WILLS	16 Jun 1847	Moyston, Victoria, Australia	08 Oct 1928	Kew, Victoria, Australia	81
Son	Egbert Spencer WILLS	11 Nov 1849		11 Sep 1931		81
Daughter	Elizabeth Spencer WILLS	07 Jan 1852		21 Nov 1930		78
Daughter	Eugenie Spencer WILLS	28 Jan 1854		08 Jul 1937		83
Daughter	Minna Spencer WILLS	01 Mar 1856		14 Feb 1943		86
Daughter	Hortense Sarah Spencer WILLS	16 Aug 1861		02 Jul 1907		45
Sister	Sarah WILLS	23 Apr 1796	Middlesex, England	10 Jan 1875	Hantshire, England	78
Brother	Thomas Spencer WILLS	05 Aug 1800		29 Jul 1872	Kew, Victoria, Australia	71
Sister	Eliza WILLS	10 Sep 1802		30 Sep 1858	St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia	56
Brother	Edward Spencer WILLS	16 Feb 1805		1828	London, Middlesex, England	23
Sister	Elizabeth Selina WILLS	30 Nov 1807		18 Jan 1811		3
Half Sister	Jane HOWE	09 Nov 1816	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	23 Nov 1880	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	64
Daughter in Law	Sarah Teresa BARBER
Son in Law	Henry Colden Antill (Colie) HARRISON	16 Oct 1836	New South Wales, Australia	02 Sep 1929		92
Daughter in Law	Elizabeth Henrietta MACDONALD	26 Dec 1850	Breewarner, Murrumbidgee, New South Wales, Australia	25 Jan 1944	Queensland, Australia	93
Daughter in Law	Sarah Eliza BESWICKE	04 May 1857		16 Dec 1916	Sandham, Victoria, Australia	59
Daughter in Law	Mary BESWICKE	27 Jun 1853		10 Dec 1930		77
Son in Law	Edward Lesley SHAW	16 Jan 1849	Geelong, Victoria, Australia	08 Apr 1908		59
Son in Law	T G CUE
Son in Law	Peter TYSON
Son in Law	Harold BLOMFIELD-BROWN	1857
Son in Law	George Clarence HARDING
Granddaughter	Eva Wills HARRISON	11 Aug 1865		27 Sep 1929		64
Grandson	Horace HARRISON	25 Dec 1866		19 Feb 1867		0
Granddaughter	Kate Wills HARRISON	26 Feb 1868
Granddaughter	Emily Rosalie (Rose) HARRISON	23 Jul 1869
Grandson	Henry Norman HARRISON	28 Jul 1870		09 May 1872		1
Granddaughter	Ida May HARRISON	20 Jan 1872		01 Aug 1872		0
Grandson	Eric HARRISON	1874
Granddaughter	Ruby Spencer HARRISON	25 Mar 1876
Granddaughter	Alma Wills HARRISON	31 Mar 1882
Granddaughter	Eileen Spencer HARRISON	31 Mar 1882		abt 1883		1
Granddaughter	Elizabeth Spencer WILLS	12 Mar 1873	Queensland, Australia	24 Oct 1956	Queensland, Australia	83
Granddaughter	Edith Spencer WILLS	06 Jun 1874	Queensland, Australia	15 Sep 1956		82
Granddaughter	Emily Spencer WILLS	16 Aug 1875	Queensland, Australia	05 Feb 1960		84
Grandson	Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS	28 Aug 1876	Queensland, Australia	30 Aug 1960	Queensland, Australia	84
Grandson	Cedric Spencer WILLS	29 Nov 1877	Cullinlaringo, Springsure, Queensland, Australia	26 Sep 1957	Home Hill, Queensland, Australia	79
Granddaughter	Minnie Spencer WILLS	27 Apr 1880	Queensland, Australia	23 Dec 1962	Queensland, Australia	82
Granddaughter	Egbert Spencer WILLS	26 Jul 1881	Queensland, Australia	04 Aug 1888	Queensland, Australia	7
Granddaughter	Rose Spencer WILLS	16 Sep 1882	Queensland, Australia	21 Feb 1969		86
Granddaughter	Ruby Spencer WILLS	23 Nov 1883	Queensland, Australia
Granddaughter	Ivy Spencer WILLS	30 Jul 1885	Queensland, Australia	09 Feb 1968		82
Grandson	Thomas Wentworth Spencer WILLS	25 Jul 1886	Queensland, Australia	22 May 1963	Queensland, Australia	76
Grandson	Colden Spencer WILLS	15 Oct 1888	Queensland, Australia	20 May 1972		83
Granddaughter	Ethel WILLS	1872		1872		0
Granddaughter	Ethel Mary WILLS	26 Aug 1873	Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia	22 Jun 1919	Kew, Victoria, Australia	45
Granddaughter	Ida Claire WILLS	03 Jun 1880	Springsure, Queensland, Australia	02 Aug 1964	Los Angeles, California, USA	84
Granddaughter	Hebe Eugenie WILLS	08 Mar 1885	Queensland, Australia	10 Nov 1948	Toorak, Victoria, Australia	63
Granddaughter	Maud WILLS	1886	Hawthorne, Victoria, Australia	1886		0
Granddaughter	Eva Irene "Rene" WILLS	07 Jun 1888	Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia	1980	Kew, Victoria, Australia	92
Grandson	Stanley WILLS
Grandson	Egbert Horatio WILLS	07 Dec 1878
Grandson	Eric Wilfred WILLS	20 Sep 1891
Grandson	Edward St Laurence SHAW	07 Mar 1878
Granddaughter	Lesley Elizabeth SHAW	04 Feb 1879		26 Apr 1879		0
Granddaughter	Ellen Marian SHAW	04 May 1880		07 Nov 1949		69
Granddaughter	Doris Minna SHAW	10 Jul 1881		12 Jul 1933		52
Granddaughter	Elshie Adela SHAW	27 Apr 1883		12 Oct 1923		40
Granddaughter	Phyllis Joan SHAW	18 Sep 1886		18 Jun 1887		0
Grandson	Horace Forster SHAW	06 Jun 1888		30 Apr 1968		79
Grandson	Lester Boyd SHAW	06 Nov 1890
Grandson	Max Douglas SHAW	17 Jul 1897
Granddaughter	Eva CUE			26 Jul 1972
Granddaughter	Claudia BLOMFIELD-BROWN	12 Mar 1884		27 Jun 1934		50
Grandson	Harold BLOMFIELD-BROWN	22 Apr 1885		18 Apr 1964		78
Grandson	Reginald BLOMFIELD-BROWN	24 Jan 1890
Granddaughter	Katherine HARDING
Aunt	Anne WILLS	abt 1777		bef 1813		36
Uncle	George POOLE			bef 1813
Aunt	Nancy HARDING
Uncle	male BRADLEY
Uncle	Samuel HARDING
Uncle	Thomas HARDING
Aunt	Mary HARDING	abt 1789
Uncle	John WILLEY
Cousin	George POOLE
Cousin	Sarah POOLE
Cousin	Emily WILLEY	Apr 1810
Cousin	Selina WILLEY	1811
Nephew	William Lachlan Macquarie REDFERN	27 Jul 1819
Nephew	Joseph Foveaux REDFERN	07 Feb 1823		abt 11 Apr 1830		7
Niece	Sarah ALEXANDER	09 Feb 1835		08 Oct 1905		70
Niece	Alice WILLS	06 May 1823		14 Apr 1824		0
Nephew	William Henry WILLS	01 Dec 1827		abt 1828		1
Niece	Catherine Spencer WILLS	24 Nov 1831	Australia	27 Aug 1884	Geelong, Victoria, Australia	52
Nephew	Arthur WILLS	18 Feb 1857		14 Oct 1932		75
Nephew	Harry WILLS	13 Sep 1858
Nephew	Frederick WILLS	19 Jul 1860		abt 1861		1
Nephew	Charles WILLS	15 Nov 1861		abt 1862		1
Niece	Margaret C ANTILL	1820	New South Wales, Australia	1849	New South Wales, Australia	29
Nephew	John Macquarie ANTILL	1822	New South Wales, Australia	1900	Picton, New South Wales, Australia	78
Nephew	Henry Colden ANTILL	1823	New South Wales, Australia	17 Mar 1913	Granville, New South Wales, Australia	90
Niece	Alice S ANTILL	1824	New South Wales, Australia
Nephew	Thomas W ANTILL	1829	New South Wales, Australia
Nephew	Edward Spencer ANTILL	1832	New South Wales, Australia	1917	Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia	85
Nephew	James Alexander ANTILL	07 Nov 1834	Picton, New South Wales, Australia	15 Feb 1920	Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales, Australia	85
Niece	Selina ANTILL	1837	New South Wales, Australia
Nephew	Loftus C ANTILL	1840	New South Wales, Australia	1840	New South Wales, Australia	0
Nephew	John Arthur HARRISON
Niece	Adela Ann HARRISON	11 Sep 1834		23 Jul 1910		75
Nephew	Henry Colden Antill (Colie) HARRISON	16 Oct 1836	New South Wales, Australia	02 Sep 1929		92
Nephew	George Alfred HARRISON	1838	New South Wales, Australia
Niece	Alice HARRISON	1842	New South Wales, Australia
Niece	Kate HARRISON	1842	New South Wales, Australia
Niece	Horace Washington HARRISON	1848		09 Feb 1869	Ballarat, Victoria, Australia	21
Nephew	Ernest HARRISON	1855
Brother in Law	William REDFERN	abt 1774	Canada	17 Jul 1833	Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland	59
Brother in Law	James ALEXANDER	1797		29 Jul 1877		80
Sister in Law	Celia Eliza REIBEY	01 Feb 1802	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	28 Sep 1823	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia	21
Sister in Law	Marie Anne BARRY	21 Sep 1801		19 May 1870		68
Sister in Law	Mary Ann MELLARD
Brother in Law	Henry Colden ANTILL	01 May 1779	New York, New York, USA	14 Aug 1852	Picton, New South Wales, Australia	73
Brother in Law	John HARRISON	abt 1802	Camerton, Cumberland, England	21 Jul 1867	Williamstown, Victoria, Australia	65

Events in Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS (1811 - 1861)'s life
Date	Age	Event	Place	Notes	Src
14 May 1811		Death of father Edward Spencer WILLS (aged 32)	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia		36
05 Oct 1811		Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS was born	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia		36
08 Jul 1823	11	Death of mother Sarah HARDING (aged 46)	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia		36
02 Dec 1833	22	Married Elizabeth WYRE MCGUIRE (aged 16)	Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia	V18332680 74A/1833	36
19 Aug 1835	23	Birth of son Thomas Wentworth Spencer WILLS	Molonglo Plains, New South Wales, Australia	V18353071 45B/1835	36
25 Dec 1842	31	Birth of daughter Emily Spencer WILLS			36
01 Dec 1844	33	Birth of son Cedric Spencer WILLS	Lexington, Victoria, Australia		36
16 Jun 1847	35	Birth of son Horace Spencer WILLS	Moyston, Victoria, Australia		36
11 Nov 1849	38	Birth of son Egbert Spencer WILLS			36
07 Jan 1852	40	Birth of daughter Elizabeth Spencer WILLS			36
28 Jan 1854	42	Birth of daughter Eugenie Spencer WILLS			36
01 Mar 1856	44	Birth of daughter Minna Spencer WILLS			36
16 Aug 1861	49	Birth of daughter Hortense Sarah Spencer WILLS			36
17 Oct 1861	50	Horatio Spencer Howe WILLS died	Emerald, Queensland, Australia	Note 1	36

Note 1: 1862/356 murdered by aboriginals

Personal Notes:

Australian Dictionary of Biography Horatio Spencer Howe Wills (1811-1861), pastoralist and politician, was born on 5 October 1811 in Sydney, the sixth child of Edward Spencer Wills and his wife Sarah, née Harding. His father was transported for life for highway robbery and arrived in Sydney in the Hillsborough in July 1799 accompanied by his wife and eldest child, Sarah. He appears to have been assigned to his wife and they were soon in business as general merchants and ship-chandlers at 96 George Street North, their premises abutting on Sydney Cove. He also owned several small trading vessels in partnership with Thomas Reibey, merchant. Wills was given an unconditional pardon in 1803 and a full pardon on 30 May 1809. He died on 14 May 1811. On Horatio Wills's first birthday his mother married George Howe, printer-editor of the Sydney Gazette, then being published at 96 George Street. Howe's fortunes were greatly changed by the trading and ship-owning business that Sarah Howe continued to conduct after her first husband's death. Social prestige came to her from the marriage of her eldest child Sarah to Dr William Redfern, and of Elizabeth, her fourth child, to Major Henry Colden Antill. Wills's youth was spent on Sydney's waterfront. He had little formal education, and at 12 was employed in the Gazette office. His mother died on 8 July 1823, two years after George Howe. Soon afterwards young Wills was apprenticed to Robert Howe, who inherited the Gazette and the George Street premises from his father. Wills never liked the trade and quarrelled often with his stepbrother-master. A legend has him running away to sea, shipwrecked in the South Seas and rescued dramatically after living with islanders for two years; none of the dates mentioned accord with actual happenings in his early youth, although he did abscond from his apprenticeship at least three times for short periods. Once he shipped in a sealing vessel, the other times he was at the homes of his sisters, Mrs Redfern and Mrs Antill. Brought to court by Howe in 1827, Wills was defended by William Charles Wentworth and agreed to return to his master's service. His apprenticeship ended about the time of Robert Howe's death on 29 January 1829. Although printer and publisher of the Gazette in 1832 Wills also edited, published and printed the Currency Lad from 25 August 1832. This four-page weekly journal, whose motto was 'Rise Australia', ceased after eight months. Wills's connexion with the Gazette ended in June 1833. Wills married Elizabeth McGuire, aged 16, at Parramatta on 2 December 1833. At first they lived at Varroville in the Minto district, then owned by his brother Thomas. From 1834 he held a pastoral lease in the Molonglo district. It was from this holding that Wills overlanded to the Port Phillip District with 5000 sheep and 500 cattle. The journey began on 29 December 1839 and lasted four months. His wife and first child, Thomas Wills, aged 4, were in the party, which included drovers, shepherds and Aboriginal stockmen. Wills's party wintered in 1840 near Mount William in the Grampians district; he noted in his diary some years later that he named a near-by hill, Mount Ararat, 'for here, like the Ark, we rested'. In December 1842 he took over a run of 120,000 acres (48,563 ha), which he named Lexington. There he lived for ten years greatly improving the holding, experimenting with wheat, fencing some paddocks with netting that he ordered from England, importing Saxon sheep, and building a fine homestead. He sold Lexington with 28,000 sheep and 3000 cattle for £35,000 in November 1852, and for the next eight years lived on Belle Vue, at Point Henry near Geelong. He made this small property a model farm, and himself something of a country squire, taking active interest in church, agricultural, immigration and charitable movements. Wills was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council on 10 January 1855, succeeding William Haines who had become colonial secretary. Next year with Haines he was elected for South Grant to the first Legislative Assembly of Victoria, one of its three native-born members. He made no mark in its deliberations, but actively canvassed land reform, exclusion of Chinese from the goldfields, defence and penal reform. When parliament was dissolved on 24 February 1859 he was in Germany where he placed his three younger sons at school. He did not seek re-election. In 1860 Wills twice visited central Queensland seeking land. He took over the lease of four blocks, each of twenty-five sq. miles (65 km²), from Peter Fitzalan Macdonald on the Nogoa River, 25 miles (40 km) south-west of the later town of Emerald. The run was named Cullin-la-ringo. In January 1861 Wills, his son Thomas, and a party of stockmen, shepherds, other servants and their families departed from Geelong by ship for Brisbane. The twenty-five men, women and children left Brisbane on 5 February 1861 in bullock wagons and drays with stores for a new station. Some stud rams had been brought from Geelong. Sheep, horses and cattle were bought along the track, mainly in the Darling Downs and Burnett districts. Sixteen weeks later the party reached Rockhampton with 10,500 sheep. Thence they moved slowly to Cullin-la-ringo, some two hundred miles (320 km) west, arriving early in October 1861. Immediately the building of stock yards, huts and store-rooms was started. At daybreak on 17 October a group of approximately one hundred Aboriginal people arrived at the site and sat down about fifty yards (46 m) away. Wills invited them to camp, as usual, anywhere on the run but asked them to keep clear of his encampment. In the early afternoon they launched a surprise attack on the whites, killing nineteen men, women, and children, including Wills. A man who hid and two shepherds out with their flocks survived and raised the alarm. Thomas Wills and two other men also escaped death, being away from the station at the time. Settlers buried the victims at the scene. Reprisals against the assailants and their people were swift and ruthless. A party of vigilantes shot dead about thirty and a contingent of Native Police slaughtered between sixty and seventy more. Tom Wills joined locals in criticising his father’s over-confident and incautious belief that he could live in harmony with the original owners of the lands he was occupying. There was speculation in Sydney that the killing of the whites was retribution for the actions of three men from New South Wales who had earlier visited the region and abducted two Aboriginal boys. Some years after the massacre an Aboriginal stockman told Tom Wills and his brother Cedric that the killings had been organised retaliation for a murderous assault on his people. In July 1861 a squatter, Jesse Gregson—of Rainworth station, twenty miles (32 km) south of Cullin-la-ringo—and a contingent of Native Police had fired on a group whom Gregson believed had stolen some of his sheep. The stockman’s account of his people’s planning and execution of the revenge attack on Wills’s party is consistent with Aboriginal law. Ironically, transfer of the Cullin-la-ringo leases was dated 18 October 1861, the day after the massacre. The leases remained with Wills's sons until 1877. Cedric, the second son, worked the property after his father's death and remained in the Peak Downs district all his life. Descendants are still there. Cullin-la-ringo was sold for £49,000 to the British Food Corporation in 1949 for grain-sorghum growing. The venture failed; later the property was cut up for closer settlement. The eldest son, Thomas Wentworth Wills, was a noted cricketer at Rugby School, England, and in intercolonial matches for Victoria in the 1860s also assisted in the codification of Australian Rules football. Elizabeth Wills died in 1908. Amongst her memorials to her husband is a cottage in the Old Colonists' Homes, Melbourne.

Source References:

36. Type: Book, Abbr: Edward Wills Family, Title: Ancestors Treasure Hunt, The Edward Wills Family and Descendants in Australia 1797-1976, Auth: R V Pockley, Publ: Wentworth Books, Date: 1976

- Reference = 65 (Name, Notes)

- Reference = 65 (Birth)

- Reference = 65 (Death)

- Reference = 65 (Marriage)

60. Type: Web Page, Abbr: Index of Australia Wills Families, Title: Index of Australian Wills Families, Auth: Tom Wills, Locn: http://tww.id.au/fam/

- Reference = (Name, Notes)

- Notes: Horatio Spencer Howe Wills was born on 5 Oct 1811 in Sydney,, New South Wales, Australia. He was christened on 7 Jun 1815 in St Phillip's, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He died on 17 Oct 1861 in Cullin-la-ringo, Springsure, Queensland,Australia. He was buried in Garden Creek, Springsure, Queensland, Australia. Mutch Index b. 1811, Oct 5 bap June 7, 1815 St Phillip's Sydney P.B. 1822 Census living with mother listed as Elizabeth Wills and brother Edward Mutch Index - married 1833 Dec by banns First Settler in Arrarat District of Victoria Member of Leglislative Council of Victoria for County of South Grant tenth 10 day of December 1854 1837 Muster Horatio at Newcastle had one convict 4968 Catherine Cochrane age 20 came on the "Caroline" in 1833 Victorian Immigation records 1860 Mar, Mr Horatio S Wills age 54 entered Victoria on "Agincourt" Massacred by Aborigines at Garden Creek, on the Property Cullin-la-Ringo, Springsure Queensland Death Reg No Qld 06/000356 buried Garden Creek Cemetery - Ungazetted cemetery R126 - 551 National Trust of Queensland - part of Horatio's run in 1861 - Portion 4 Coorabelle - 2560 acres

62. Type: Web Page, Abbr: Australian Dictionary of Biography, Title: Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition, Publ: ANU, Locn: http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm

- Reference = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020548b.htm (Name, Notes)

- Notes: WILLS, HORATIO SPENCER HOWE (1811-1861), pastoralist and politician, was born on 5 October 1811 in Sydney, the sixth child of Edward Spencer Wills and his wife Sarah, née Harding. His father was transported for life for highway robbery and arrived in Sydney in the Hillsborough in July 1799 accompanied by his wife and eldest child, Sarah. He appears to have been assigned to his wife and they were soon in business as general merchants and ship-chandlers at 96 George Street North, their premises abutting on Sydney Cove. He also owned several small trading vessels in partnership with Thomas Reibey, merchant. Wills was given an unconditional pardon in 1803 and a full pardon on 30 May 1809. He died on 14 May 1811. On Horatio Wills's first birthday his mother married George Howe, printer-editor of the Sydney Gazette, then being published at 96 George Street. Howe's fortunes were greatly changed by the trading and ship-owning business that Sarah Howe continued to conduct after her first husband's death. Social prestige came to her from the marriage of her eldest child Sarah to Dr William Redfern, and of Elizabeth, her fourth child, to Major Henry Colden Antill. Wills's youth was spent on Sydney's waterfront. He had little formal education, and at 12 was employed in the Gazette office. His mother died on 8 July 1823, two years after George Howe. Soon afterwards young Wills was apprenticed to Robert Howe, who inherited the Gazette and the George Street premises from his father. Wills never liked the trade and quarrelled often with his stepbrother-master. A legend has him running away to sea, shipwrecked in the South Seas and rescued dramatically after living with islanders for two years; none of the dates mentioned accord with actual happenings in his early youth, although he did abscond from his apprenticeship at least three times for short periods. Once he shipped in a sealing vessel, the other times he was at the homes of his sisters, Mrs Redfern and Mrs Antill. Brought to court by Howe in 1827, Wills was defended by William Charles Wentworth and agreed to return to his master's service. His apprenticeship ended about the time of Robert Howe's death on 29 January 1829. Although printer and publisher of the Gazette in 1832 Wills also edited, published and printed the Currency Lad from 25 August 1832. This four-page weekly journal, whose motto was 'Rise Australia', ceased after eight months. Wills's connexion with the Gazette ended in June 1833. Wills married Elizabeth McGuire, aged 16, at Parramatta on 2 December 1833. At first they lived at Varroville in the Minto district, then owned by his brother Thomas. From 1834 he held a pastoral lease in the Molonglo district. It was from this holding that Wills overlanded to the Port Phillip District with 5000 sheep and 500 cattle. The journey began on 29 December 1839 and lasted four months. His wife and first child, Thomas Wills, aged 4, were in the party, which included drovers, shepherds and Aboriginal stockmen. Wills's party wintered in 1840 near Mount William in the Grampians district; he noted in his diary some years later that he named a near-by hill, Mount Ararat, 'for here, like the Ark, we rested'. In December 1842 he took over a run of 120,000 acres (48,563 ha), which he named Lexington. There he lived for ten years greatly improving the holding, experimenting with wheat, fencing some paddocks with netting that he ordered from England, importing Saxon sheep, and building a fine homestead. He sold Lexington with 28,000 sheep and 3000 cattle for £35,000 in November 1852, and for the next eight years lived on Belle Vue, at Point Henry near Geelong. He made this small property a model farm, and himself something of a country squire, taking active interest in church, agricultural, immigration and charitable movements. Wills was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council on 10 January 1855, succeeding William Haines who had become colonial secretary. Next year with Haines he was elected for South Grant to the first Legislative Assembly of Victoria, one of its three native-born members. He made no mark in its deliberations, but actively canvassed land reform, exclusion of Chinese from the goldfields, defence and penal reform. When parliament was dissolved on 24 February 1859 he was in Germany where he placed his three younger sons at school. He did not seek re-election. In 1860 Wills twice visited central Queensland seeking land. He took over the lease of four blocks, each of twenty-five sq. miles (65 km²), from Peter Fitzalan Macdonald on the Nogoa River, 25 miles (40 km) south-west of the later town of Emerald. The selection was named Cullinlaringo. In January 1861 Wills, his son Thomas, and a party of stockmen, shepherds, other servants and their families left Geelong by ship for Brisbane. The twenty-five men, women and children left Brisbane on 5 February 1861 in bullock wagons and drays with stores for a new station. Some stud rams had been brought from Geelong. Sheep, horses and cattle were bought along the track, mainly in the Darling Downs and Burnett districts. Sixteen weeks later the party reached Rockhampton with 10,500 sheep. Thence they moved slowly along the Dawson track, south of the Fitzroy River, to Cullinlaringo, 250 miles (402 km) west. The expedition was one of the most lavishly equipped seen along the Dawson, and it attracted much attention from settlers, travellers and Aboriginals who became camp followers. Wills ignored warnings not to encourage them or to display supplies of food, clothing, blankets and other stores. Cullinlaringo was reached in October 1861, eight months after leaving Brisbane. Immediately the building of stock yards, huts and store-rooms was started. A party of Aboriginals settled into a camp near by. Little attention was paid to them; they were friendly, seemed harmless, and had free run of the station. Wills and his people settled to a regular routine, with a rest after each midday meal. In the early afternoon of 17 October the peace of the station was broken by a woman's scream; Wills, resting in his tent, picked up a pistol and fired at an Aboriginal but was battered down with tomahawk and nulla-nulla. With tragic speed eighteen other people were killed. Only three men on the station escaped death. Thomas Wills and two stockmen were away from the station. It was the worst massacre of white men in the history of Australian pioneer settlement. Wills's careless, lavish display of food, firearms, blankets and clothing had excited the greed of the Aboriginals. Study of the station habits made the raid an easy matter; it was not resisted because there was no preparation against attack. After the massacre the Aboriginals hastily plundered the stores, wagons, tents and huts, and hurried to the ranges. They were followed by a large party of police and settlers, trapped in a valley, and shot down. Few escaped this act of revenge. Wills and his people were buried in a grave at the scene of the massacre, which is remembered in a headstone. Ironically, transfer of the Cullinlaringo leases was dated 18 October 1861, the day after the massacre. The leases remained with Wills's sons until 1877. Cedric, the second son, worked the property after his father's death and remained in the Peak Downs district all his life. Descendants are still there. Cullinlaringo was sold for £49,000 to the British Food Corporation in 1949 for grain-sorghum growing. The venture failed; later the property was cut up for closer settlement. The eldest son, Thomas Wentworth Wills, was a noted cricketer at Rugby School, England, and in intercolonial matches for Victoria in the 1860s. Elizabeth Wills died in 1908. Amongst her memorials to her husband is a cottage in the Old Colonists' Homes, Melbourne. Select Bibliography T. F. Bride (ed), Letters from Victorian Pioneers (Melb, 1898); J. T. S. Bird, The Early History of Rockhampton (Rockhampton, 1904); R. V. Billis and A. S. Kenyon, Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip (Melb, 1932); W. R. Brownhill, History of Geelong and Corio Bay (Melb, 1955); L. L. Banfield, Like the Ark: The Story of Ararat (Melb, 1955); Wills family papers (privately held). More on the resources Author: C. E. Sayers Print Publication Details: C. E. Sayers, 'Wills, Horatio Spencer Howe (1811 - 1861)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, Melbourne University Press, 1967, pp 605-607.

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