Garnet Walch

Garnet Walch (1 October 1843 in Broadmarsh, Van Diemen's Land – 3 January 1913 in Melbourne), was an Australian writer, dramatist, journalist and publisher.

The youngest son of Major J. W. H. Walch, of H.M. 54th Regiment,[1] he went on to become the most popular, and arguably the most successful, writer for the Australian stage during the 1870s and 1880s, While many of his works were localised and updated adaptations (notably his pantomimes), it was his ability to tap into the public's mood and desires by expressing sentiments and making satirical allusions that made his works so popular.

Walch wrote a wide array of genres and forms, including "serious" dramatic works, comedies, pantomimes, burlesques, melodrama, and comediettas.

Further to this, several of his works were adapted by others, including Archibald Murray's Harlequin Blue Beard, The Great Bashaw (1872); Samuel Lazar's Hey Diddle Diddle The Cat and the Fiddle, the Cow Jumped Over the Moon (1878); and the burlesque Sinbad the Tailor (1881), adapted from Walch's 1880 pantomime Sinbad the Sailor.

Walch's non-music theatre works include "Heart and Head" (sketch, 1881), Proof Positive (comedietta, 1883), and possibly the Harry Rickards-produced comic play In A Fog (1890).