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William John Wills
William John Wills (5 January 1834 – c. 28 June 1861) was a British surveyor who also trained as a surgeon. He was the second-in-command of the Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He and the expedition leader Robert O'Hara Burke both died of exhaustion on the expedition's return journey.
William John Wills was born on 5 January 1834 in Totnes, Devon, England, and he was the second of seven children born to William Wills (died 28 September 1889) and Sarah Mary Elizabeth Wills (née Calley, born 23 December 1800, baptized 12 March 1801 in Totnes, and died 19 February 1880).[citation needed]
Wills lived at the family home at Ipplepen in Devon, and as a young child he contracted a fever which left him with "slow and hesitating speech". He was home-tutored by his father until the age of 11, and from 1845 to 1850 attended St Andrew's Grammar School in Ashburton. He was then articled to his father's surgical practice, and he later studied practical chemistry under John Stenhouse at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London in 1852.[citation needed]
Wills was first cousin of Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, an English Royal Navy officer and polar explorer who died on the Franklin Expedition in 1845.
Wills bought a share in the Melbourne Gold Mining Company in 1852 and planned to migrate to Australia with his wife Sarah and sons William and Thomas. However, as his wife objected to him leaving London, Wills delayed his departure and consequently the two boys went to Australia alone. Eighteen-year-old William and fifteen-year-old Thomas departed from Dartmouth on 1 October 1852 aboard the Janet Mitchell, and they arrived in Melbourne on 3 January 1853 with 197 other passengers. William and Thomas found accommodation at the Immigrants Home in South Melbourne.[citation needed]
In February 1853, the Wills brothers found work as shepherds at a property owned by the Royal Bank Company on the Edward River near Deniliquin. They were paid £30 per year (£3296 in 2025) plus rations, and were in charge of a flock of 1300 rams at the Ram Station. In the same year, their father followed his sons to Australia, arriving in August 1853, and the three returned to Melbourne before moving to Ballarat where William John Wills worked as a digger in the goldfields. In 1854, he worked as an assistant surgeon in his father's practice and later he opened his own gold office.[citation needed]
In early 1855, William worked on William Skene's Kanawalla Station on the Wannon River near Hamilton. He returned to Ballarat in April 1855, and towards the end of the year he began to study surveying. He was appointed as an amateur to John Hamlet Taylor, the Acting District Surveyor of the Ballarat Survey Office on Sturt Street. William spent several months learning trigonometry, Euclidean geometry and in 1856 studied field surveying. He began his practical surveying experience at Glendaruel, near Tourello. There, he worked under the supervision of Frederick John Byerly, Assistant Surveyor, on £150 per year (£13967 in 2025) plus board. In February 1857, he worked at Bullarook Creek Camp, and in March 1857 he surveyed at Kingower near Inglewood. In the middle of 1857, he was promoted to foreman and placed in charge of a field party; his salary also increased to £185 per year (£18087 in 2025). From April to June 1858, he surveyed at St Arnaud, then in July he returned to Ballarat and took occasional contracts surveying for Clement Hodgkinson, the Deputy Surveyor General.[citation needed]
Wills moved to Melbourne in August 1858, and from August to December, he lodged with Mrs E Henderson at 1 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. In November 1858, he received a temporary appointment on the recommendation of Charles Whybrow Ligar, Surveyor General, as a supernumerary at the recently established Magnetic Observatory which was then located at Flagstaff Hill. In February 1859, one of the observatory assistants, John Walter Osborne, transferred from the observatory to become a photozincographer in the Survey Department of the Office of Crown Lands and Survey. Wills replaced Osborne at the observatory, then his permanent appointment was confirmed in March 1859, at which point he moved into a room at the Observatory. Wills studied under Government Meteorologist and Observatory Director Georg von Neumayer, and he worked with Jacob Bauer, Charles E Pickering, Charles Moerlin, and supernumeraries John Osborne and Edwin James Welch.[citation needed]
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William John Wills
William John Wills (5 January 1834 – c. 28 June 1861) was a British surveyor who also trained as a surgeon. He was the second-in-command of the Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He and the expedition leader Robert O'Hara Burke both died of exhaustion on the expedition's return journey.
William John Wills was born on 5 January 1834 in Totnes, Devon, England, and he was the second of seven children born to William Wills (died 28 September 1889) and Sarah Mary Elizabeth Wills (née Calley, born 23 December 1800, baptized 12 March 1801 in Totnes, and died 19 February 1880).[citation needed]
Wills lived at the family home at Ipplepen in Devon, and as a young child he contracted a fever which left him with "slow and hesitating speech". He was home-tutored by his father until the age of 11, and from 1845 to 1850 attended St Andrew's Grammar School in Ashburton. He was then articled to his father's surgical practice, and he later studied practical chemistry under John Stenhouse at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London in 1852.[citation needed]
Wills was first cousin of Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, an English Royal Navy officer and polar explorer who died on the Franklin Expedition in 1845.
Wills bought a share in the Melbourne Gold Mining Company in 1852 and planned to migrate to Australia with his wife Sarah and sons William and Thomas. However, as his wife objected to him leaving London, Wills delayed his departure and consequently the two boys went to Australia alone. Eighteen-year-old William and fifteen-year-old Thomas departed from Dartmouth on 1 October 1852 aboard the Janet Mitchell, and they arrived in Melbourne on 3 January 1853 with 197 other passengers. William and Thomas found accommodation at the Immigrants Home in South Melbourne.[citation needed]
In February 1853, the Wills brothers found work as shepherds at a property owned by the Royal Bank Company on the Edward River near Deniliquin. They were paid £30 per year (£3296 in 2025) plus rations, and were in charge of a flock of 1300 rams at the Ram Station. In the same year, their father followed his sons to Australia, arriving in August 1853, and the three returned to Melbourne before moving to Ballarat where William John Wills worked as a digger in the goldfields. In 1854, he worked as an assistant surgeon in his father's practice and later he opened his own gold office.[citation needed]
In early 1855, William worked on William Skene's Kanawalla Station on the Wannon River near Hamilton. He returned to Ballarat in April 1855, and towards the end of the year he began to study surveying. He was appointed as an amateur to John Hamlet Taylor, the Acting District Surveyor of the Ballarat Survey Office on Sturt Street. William spent several months learning trigonometry, Euclidean geometry and in 1856 studied field surveying. He began his practical surveying experience at Glendaruel, near Tourello. There, he worked under the supervision of Frederick John Byerly, Assistant Surveyor, on £150 per year (£13967 in 2025) plus board. In February 1857, he worked at Bullarook Creek Camp, and in March 1857 he surveyed at Kingower near Inglewood. In the middle of 1857, he was promoted to foreman and placed in charge of a field party; his salary also increased to £185 per year (£18087 in 2025). From April to June 1858, he surveyed at St Arnaud, then in July he returned to Ballarat and took occasional contracts surveying for Clement Hodgkinson, the Deputy Surveyor General.[citation needed]
Wills moved to Melbourne in August 1858, and from August to December, he lodged with Mrs E Henderson at 1 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne. In November 1858, he received a temporary appointment on the recommendation of Charles Whybrow Ligar, Surveyor General, as a supernumerary at the recently established Magnetic Observatory which was then located at Flagstaff Hill. In February 1859, one of the observatory assistants, John Walter Osborne, transferred from the observatory to become a photozincographer in the Survey Department of the Office of Crown Lands and Survey. Wills replaced Osborne at the observatory, then his permanent appointment was confirmed in March 1859, at which point he moved into a room at the Observatory. Wills studied under Government Meteorologist and Observatory Director Georg von Neumayer, and he worked with Jacob Bauer, Charles E Pickering, Charles Moerlin, and supernumeraries John Osborne and Edwin James Welch.[citation needed]
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