Wilson early showed artistic talent, and by the age of 11 was helping out in the paint room of Edinburgh's old Theatre Royal where his father was working for William Murray.
[4] While the company was in Geelong, and Madame Carandini was rehearsing The Daughter of the Regiment (she was playing there in April 1855),[7] he lost the sight of his left eye through a bayonet accident.
Starting at the Cremorne Gardens[1] at Richmond, he toured Victoria with a panorama of his own design and construction, depicting the Crimean War, with a working model of Siege of Sebastopol complete with fireworks.
[3] In September 1861 he was employed on "the grand spectacle in four acts",[9] by Henry Laurent and Edward Fitzball, based on Daniel Auber's L'enfant prodigue, Azael, the Prodigal Son, a production of which he had helped his father paint years before, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
In November 1862 he was secured by William Dind to provide the scenery for the first Australian production of Falconer's Peep o' Day at the Royal Victoria.
[15] Harding was praised for providing quality entertainment at a reasonable admission price, and at every performance the scenery artists were applauded vigorously.
[2] In August 1870 the three-way partnership of Harding, Habbe and Wilson was dissolved and Wilson and Habbe opened the Victoria Theatre, in Pitt Street, with the Gregory Troupe, followed in September 1870 with a season starring Mary Gladstane, first in the title role of Frou-Frou, and in October staged Elizabeth, Queen of England,[d] when Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh attended the theatre.
Their first production was Moths, Henry Hamilton's adaptation of the Ouida novel, introducing Olga Nethersole and Charles Cartwright to Sydney audiences.
[2] The Garrick Theatre failed to gain popular approval for reasons which are not clear,[3] and the entrepreneurs made considerable losses.
[21] In January 1894, a month after the death of his eldest son by consumption, he completed a large and detailed painting of Sydney Harbour, which he offered for sale.