Matilda Wallace

In 1863, Matilda and her husband, Abraham Wallace, departed from Mount Gambier with a wagon, two horses, bedding, and provisions to search for land in Queensland.

[4] The Wallaces were some of the earliest settlers in the region,[5] with a pastoral run, Sturts Meadows, located approximately 110 kilometres north of Broken Hill.

Pregnant again, she travelled to Adelaide late in 1872 for family support, giving birth to Alfred Abey Tom Whitfield Wallace, on January 24, 1873.

After her son died, she began writing her memoir, "Twelve Years' Life in Australia, from 1859 to 1871", which was typeset and posthumously deposited in the Adelaide Public Library.

[9][10] After retiring in 1884, Wallace re-joined his wife and bought a substantial home at Reynella, The Braes, designed by the eminent Adelaide architect, Sir Charles S Kingston, and built in 1868.

Following a period of illness, starting in 1896, she moved in with her daughter, living at Largs Bay, South Australia, where she passed away on January 21, 1898, at the age of 60.

It is a big thing to say, but it is questionable whether the annals of the Australian bush reveal a more courageous character among the women pioneers, than was Mrs Abraham Wallace.

She is recognised in the Pioneer Women's Room of the Milparinka Courthouse and History Centre[23] and a photograph archived in the South Australian library collection.