WALLER, William Alfred
| Service Number: | N/A |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Master |
| Last Unit: | Merchant Navy |
| Born: | Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia, 1 November 1885 |
| Home Town: | Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Mariner |
| Died: | Glenelg, South Australia, Australia, 12 May 1975, aged 89 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Enfield Memorial Park, South Australia Anglican BU14 |
| Memorials: |
World War 2 Service
| 2 Sep 1939: | Involvement Master, N/A, Merchant Navy |
|---|
Master Mariner in Two Wars
The eldest of seven children of Alfred Waller and Mary Ann (nee Simpson), William “Bill” Waller seems to have been a merchant seaman from an early age although when and with whom he first went to sea is not known. Perhaps his first ship was from Port Adelaide, but by 1914 he had travelled more widely and was in Europe when war was declared in August 1914. A letter home to his mother (published in “The Kangaroo Island Courier” November 1914) describes how his ship S.S. Bradford City escaped Germany on war breaking out. Bill spent the First War in Europe as a merchant mariner, living in Cardiff, Wales when not at sea.
Bill was granted his “Certificate of Competency” as a Master of ‘fore and aft rigged foreign going vessels’ in December 1917 and on 28 January 1918 he joined the Royal Naval Reserve (UK) as a Temporary Sub-Lieutenant. Advanced to Temp. Lieutenant on 28 May 1918 he served in Auxiliary Small Craft (trawlers and smaller vessels) on the east coast of England. He was demobilised from the RNR in March 1919 and returned to Australia where, on 1 May 1920 at Wallaroo SA, he married May Willson who was born in 1889 at American Beach on Kangaroo Island. From that time on Bill remained a merchant mariner in Australian waters.
Between the wars Bill and May had four children and Bill continued to advance his career and by 1939 when war again came he was a Master Mariner in command of the coastal trading vessel Noora out of Melbourne. During 1943-1944 he was Master of Aldinga and later of Dundula which from September 1943 to May 1944 shipped supplies between Sydney and Darwin. For that service he was awarded WW2 Campaign Stars and medals which finally came into his hands in 1966.
Post-war Bill continued as a ships Master for Adelaide Steamship Company out of Port Adelaide and other employers whilst he and May maintained a land-based home at Kilkenny SA.
May died 8 October 1968 aged 79 and Bill on 12 May 1975 aged 89. Both are buried at Enfield Memorial Park, Clearview, South Australia.
Submitted 18 June 2024 by Mike Golder
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