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apparently through feelings of wanderlust or the effects of the depression, accepted an offer of employment as an
accountant with a gold mining company operating in Central Australia. The name of the mining company is not
known, but there is strong evidence to suggest it could have been the White Range Mining Company, which was
then operating the Excelsior mine at Arltunga. Wilkinson arrived at Arltunga in 1896 at the age of 23, and duly
reported for duty at the office of the mining company, only to be told that his services were not required. It seems
that the manager considered that he himself was keeping the books in a satisfactory manner and required no
accounting assistance.
Wilkinson was therefore obliged to seek a livelihood in pursuits outside the bookkeeping world and tried his
hand at fossicking and mining in the mica fields to the north of Arltunga. He was apparently successful in this
venture, for he acquired his own camel team and went into business as a carrying agent. As a carrier, he made the
acquaintance of Frank Wallis whose store, Wallis and Company, was located on the corner of Todd Street and Wills
Terrace in Alice Springs. By 1899, Wilkinson was manager of the store and resided at the rear of the premises.
Within a few years, he bought the store from Frank Wallis, by which time the company had amalgamated with
Fogarty’s Store and was trading under the name of Wallis Fogarty and Company. Although he was the owner,
Wilkinson continued the business name of Wallis Fogarty and the store, affectionately known as ‘Wal-Fogs’, was
to become a hub for the social and musical world of Alice Springs. During his first visit to Alice Springs in 1918,
‘Skipper’ Partridge of Australian Inland Mission (AIM) camel patrol fame, reporting on an evening with a few of
the residents, commented, ‘It was indeed a treat to listen to George Wilkinson as he brought classical masterpieces,
one after the other, to our ears. We have scarcely heard better violinists in Sydney.’ It is not known when Wilkinson
learned to play the violin, but clearly, the Wilkinson family was talented musically, for at least one other member
was granted a certificate as a pianist by the London College of Music.
The early decades of the 20th century saw a series of severe droughts strike Central Australia. During these
periods, Wilkinson first displayed that spirit of compassion and generosity for which he was to be revered for
the rest of his life. Seeing the despair and heartbreak of the pastoralists battling against both the elements and the
pressures of stock and station agents, he gave unlimited credit for essential food, equipment and fuel, including
the cost of the transport to the outlying homesteads. As one chronicler of the time wrote, ‘He helped many people
in the Territory, fitting out drovers and contractors on no other security than their word. He did much to help
the development of the country by helping men whose only asset when they began was a willingness to work.
Very few failed to repay him.’
During a visit of ‘Skipper’ Partridge to Alice Springs, the concept of a nursing home for the town emerged.
As Bill McCoy recalled the circumstances, ‘Skipper, puzzled by the absence of the men in the evenings, for
they were neither at home nor in the bar of the Stuart Arms, tracked them down to the cellar in Wal-Fog’s store.
They were playing “penny poker” and when the game adjourned, he led the talk to a need for the Nursing Home.
The agreement was unanimous and an informal committee appointed, with Police Sergeant Robert Stott as
Chairman and Storekeeper George Wilkinson as Secretary/ Treasurer.’
Wilkinson continued in this vital role during the eight frustrating years that were to elapse before the committee
saw the realisation of their dreams with the official opening in 1926 of Adelaide House, the AIM Nursing Home
that for many decades to come was to bring comfort and consolation through devoted medical staff to Alice Springs
and its outback. As a tribute to his services, the AIM dedicated to the memory of George Wilkinson the first cottage
to be constructed at the Old Timers’ Home in Alice Springs.
Wilkinson also had horticultural interests. Encouraged by the success of citrus in his home garden, he established,
in about 1900, a small citrus orchard on the east side of the Todd River. Unfortunately, the trees were destroyed by
a mob of straying donkeys, but it is believed that the signs were sufficiently promising as to encourage other early
settlers to follow his example with, eventually, beneficial results.
Wilkinson’s health began to deteriorate in 1932 and when, in 1933, it became obvious that he required medical
aid beyond that available in Alice Springs, he was driven to Quorn by Bill McCoy. From there he was taken on to
Adelaide by train, but his condition failed to respond to hospital treatment and he died on 16 October 1933 at the
age of 60 years. His death affected the Central Australian community to the extent that a committee comprising
Messrs Maynard, J Smith, McCoy and Adamson was appointed from a meeting of old identities who had decided
to erect a memorial in his honour. This committee collected funds from throughout the district and the result of
their efforts is the simple edifice that today stands as a tribute to George Wilkinson in Wills Terrace, Alice Springs,
describing him as ‘Resident and Friend of Central Australia’.
G Bucknall, A Place for People, nd; A Grant, Camel Train and Aeroplane: The Story of Skipper Partridge, 1981; F V McEllister, Citrus
Growing in Alice Springs District, 1978; NT Place Names Committee Records, Darwin.
JEAN LOVEGROVE, Vol 1.
WILLSHIRE, WILLIAM HENRY (1852–1925), policeman, was born in Adelaide on 5 March 1852. Little is
known of his family on his mother’s side (Emily Elizabeth), but his grandfather Raymond Willshire was an
architect in London; his father’s only brother, William Hughes Willshire, MD, was a President of the Medical
Society of London; his father, James Doughty Willshire, who arrived in South Australia in 1841, was initially
shipping reporter for the Register newspaper, then a teacher and finally, after several positions in the government
service, an officer in the Taxation Department.
Willshire was one of three brothers and had three sisters. One sister married J E Brown, Conservator of Forests
in South Australia and then in Western Australia, and a brother became a merchant in Western Australia.