Wetherell was born in the gold rush town of Mount Egerton, Victoria and was the son of a miner.

He was educated to elementary level at catholic schools and initially worked in a gold battery at Ballarat.

[1] After an unsuccessful attempt to win the seat of Sturt as an independent at the 1922 state election, Wetherell became active within the Labor Party and was elected to the parliament as the member for Cobar at the 1949 by-election caused by the death of the sitting Labor member Mat Davidson.

[1] Wetherell was a member of the governments of Joseph Cahill, Robert Heffron and Jack Renshaw.

Wetherell was responsible for the dismantling of the extensive Sydney Tramway network in favour of buses.