William Chandos Wall (27 November 1845 – 1 July 1926) was an Australian politician. He was also a prospector, geologist, minerals surveyor, commission / mining agent, inventor and a quarry and mine operator before and after entering politics. In June 1886 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to succeed the former NSW premier Sir John Robertson KCMG as one of the members for Mudgee. In 1894 Wall transferred to Rylstone and in July 1895 he lost the Rylstone seat.

Parliamentary career William Chandos Wall was a 'liberal' Protectionist member in the NSW Parliaments from the 12th to the 16th inclusive (under the Jennings, Parkes, Dibbs and Reid Governments). After representing Mudgee in four Parliaments, he served only one term for Rylstone, and was defeated by the Free-Trade candidate, John Charles Lucas Fitzpatrick, in the elections for the 17th parliament in 1895. The first result for the 1895 election in Rylstone, held on 24 July, was disputed. A by-election was then held on 14 October 1895 and although Fitzpatrick was again returned, it appeared that Wall was correct in his assertion that the original count was irregular. (The Elections and Qualifications Committee in its re-count of the July election, excluded 256 of the 1028 votes cast). Although voting was not compulsory and the electorate was relatively small, the 1895 by-election in Rylstone was hotly contested. 1028 votes (54.6% of eligible voters) were counted in the July election and 1309 (69.55% of eligible voters) in the by-election held on Monday 14 October 1895. In this context, the 1895 Rylstone election was seen as a public scandal and was subject to an investigation and Report to the NSW Parliament.

Wall stood in the 1898 NSW State Election for the seat of Botany, but polled only 2.3% of the vote. He was a supporter for Federation which in the 1898 NSW Referendum had failed to reach the 80,000 'yes' votes necessary to proceed. A second NSW Referendum in 1899 polled 107,420 to 82,741 and the enabling legislation was passed by the UK Parliament in July 1900. Wall also stood in the 1902 by-election for the seat of Inverell as an Independent Federalist obtaining 26.5% of the vote, but finished third behind the Labor Party candidate, George Alfred Jones, who won 37.7%. In 1903, he stood as a Protectionist candidate for the national Parliament in the (Federal) seat of Robertson. He was defeated by Henry Willis (Free-Trade). The Protectionist Party was in decline at this time and would merge with the Anti-Socialist Party in May 1909. Again in 1907 Wall stood as an independent for the NSW State seat of Mudgee, but polled only 3.7% of the votes cast. It seems that after the 1907 defeat, he gave up his attempts to re-enter parliament.Mudgee Independent 18 July 1891; "Mr Wall expresses doubt if he will again seek election for Mudgee. His private affairs require all his attention. If it's true that he made £2,000 in a week on mining shares, he'll want that long handled shovel again, but for gold not gravel."

The (pro-Protectionist) Bulletin Weekly of 12 October 1916 said:

"Though unheard of in politics these days W. C. Wall once loomed large on the New South Wales horizon. It used to be said that he had only to send his old boots up to Rylstone to secure his return on polling day." This claim (it actually was about sending his old boots up to Wollar) was ascribed to Wall as part of what appeared to be a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign around the 1895 election. It offended the Wollar voters and he lost a substantial number of their 90 votes. This led to his 1895 defeat. Similarly in the 1907 NSW Election, this story was again used against him. He denied it and challenged the proponents to prove it. No proof was ever offered.

Mining activity William Chandos took out 2 mining leases in July 1884 (the year of his marriage and the year that first train arrived in Mudgee on 10 September 1884) in Gulgong and several more there in 1886 and 1887. This was a pattern of mining activity in which he was active most of his life. He appears to have been a knowledgeable geologist and over his long career prospected for or mined: antimony (at Moolarben – 20 Km NE of Crossroads, Mudgee), gold, iron at Cooyal and Tallawang, tin and tungsten (Ardlethan and Yalgogrin, NSW), coal and kerosene shale (Megalong Valley), limestone, dolomite and gypsum (at Wall's Mt. Knowles quarries).

He moved on to the Blue Mountains, NSW around late 1887, where he spent some time surveying the geology in and about the Megalong Valley. Wall's Pass from the adjacent Cedar Valley up the eastern escarpment to the Narrow Neck Plateau is named after him. As a result of his survey work, in October 1888 he took out Mining Permits in the Megalong Valley, NSW around Narrow Neck and Ruined Castle. In March 1890 he was part of a syndicate with his brothers, Ignatius and Damian, and some parliamentary colleagues to establish the Megalong Coal and Shale Mining Company Limited to acquire the mining rights, from Messrs. W. C. Wall MP, I. Wall, D. R. Wall, Thomas Hassall, William Dowel, and J. M. Moxon, and to mine for coal and shale.Memorandum of Association – Megalong Coal and Shale Mining Company, Limited.; On 2 May 1889 a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between William Chandos Wall, Ignatius Wall, Damian Wall, N S Dowel M.P., T H Hassall M.P. and J M Moxon under the Mining Act to hold land jointly to form a private company to mine for coal for resale and other minerals in the parish of Megalong County of Cook. The company the 'Megalong Coal and Shale Mining Company Limited' was incorporated on 25 March 1890. But in May 1893 the Registrar General was advised that the company "became extinct sometime in 1891. This period was at the start of the 1890s depression and company was "extinct' a year later.

At the time of his mother's death, in 1891, he was living in Wentworth Falls, NSW. In the same year he appears to have had some financial benefit from his enterprises and moved his family to live in Sydney. Between 1892 and 1895 (the year he was defeated in the Rylstone Election) he took out further mining leases at Hargraves (with George Ensor), at Windeyer (with Robert Victor Leffley) and alone at Peak Hill (130 Km west of Mudgee). In 1903 he took over the gold mine of Garner and party at Windeyer. In 1907 W.C. Wall and Patrick Pilley held Mining Lease No. 1 at Hargraves, NSW. 1908 saw him negotiating with Messrs G and C Hoskins, proprietors of the Eskbank Iron Works, about the sale of his discoveries of iron ore at Cooyal, Lowes Park and Tallawang. In 1909 he went so far as to set up an "open draught furnace" and produced some iron which he exhibited at the Mudgee Show. Wall was an activist for sound forestry management and was well known for his knowledge of geology and as a champion for mining and miners when he served in parliament. Gold production peaked in Australia in 1903 at around 130 tons (about 30% of total world production), so, Wall's activity coincided with the period of greatest Australian interest in gold mining.

After his parliamentary service, his Megalong Valley enterprise and his discharge from bankruptcy on 19 Nov 1901, Wall's activity switched back to the Mudgee area. Between August 1907 and May 1908, he took up further mining leases in Windeyer and Hargraves. The complex geology of the district held/holds many opportunities and gold mining the deeper reefs using modern techniques is still being carried out (Aug. 2008) in all the Mudgee areas where Wall once held mining leases.

In 1906, he attempted to set up a kerosene shale mining operation in the Barigan Valley (at Peters Creek, west of Barigan Road) – between Wollar & Botobolar, but this project seems to have been later abandoned.Mudgee Historical Society – (Lynne Robinson) – (2008) (However in 1924Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics — Record 1980/27 Notes and a Bibliography on Oil Shale in Australia - D.L. Gibson & J.A.W. White. and again in the 1940s, shale was being carted from the Barigan deposits to the rail head at Lue – 25 km south east of Mudgee – on the second occasion, when additional oil was needed during the Second World War.)

By 1911, Wall was operating gypsum (Calcium sulphate), dolomite (Calcium-Magnesium carbonate) and limestone (Calcium carbonate) quarries on Dolomite Road at Mount Knowles near Mudgee (possibly with his brothers Ignatius and Damian) and ran a private tramway to move the quarried stone to connect with the main railway from Mudgee to the Blue Mountains at Wall's Siding, Mount Knowles.Mudgee Historical Society – (Lynne Robinson) – (2007) Others were also quarrying in that area. "Messrs. G. & C. Hoskins being supplied by Messrs. Curlewis, also of Wall's Siding, the dolomite in this instance being calcined in a cupola furnace before railing to Lithgow".Mudgee Historical Society – (Lynne Robinson) – "William Chandos Wall was a selector and agent and was highly regarded by his constituents for his efforts in Parliament on behalf of mining interests. Mineral deposits along the Mudgee line as far as Lithgow necessitated many sidings, which operated for years. Much of the dolomite from Wall's Siding being railed to Lithgow" & Field Notes – Peter Wall / Peter Mara; Mt Knowles (2008); "probably to supply the G & C Hoskins blast furnace in Lithgow which opened in 1908. The Wall siding was opened September 1911 for William Chandos to load from a narrow gauged tramway from his quarry situated near to Lawsons Creek on Dolomite Road off Lue Road, Mt Knowles (12 Km south east of Mudgee) and closed 1953 when the quarry was abandoned. The remains of the quarry are still there (2008). Further along Dolomite Road a new quarry and crushing plant is now (2008) producing dolomite for the iron industry (BHP)." Wall's limestone and gypsum was also shipped to Sydney.

In May 1911 he held Lease PL No. 232 adjoining the Traelman Gold mining Company at Ivy Paddock near Mudgee and was also investigating the setting-up of a 'hill-side' furnace on the Dunedoo rail line, near Mudgee. In October 1912, a William Wall is listed as holding a 4 acre mining lease at Yambulla (south of Cooma, NSW).

In 1913, he was operating his business from offices adjacent to the London Hotel in Ardlethan, NSW. These rented offices were burnt down along with a few shops and the Bank of NSW on Christmas morning 1914 It must have been a significant set back at 69 to have lost all his professional equipment in this fire. He seems to have been well regarded there and played a significant role the mining affairs of the town. In 1915 he was operating mining leases around Ardlethan and Narian. The 1917 Sands Country Alphabetical Directory lists W. C. Wall as a Mining Agent at Ardlethan, NSW (80 km east of Griffith). Two years later in 1919 Wall was at North Yalgogrin, NSW (35 Km west of West Wyalong where gold was first discovered in 1893 on Robert Payne's selection 2 Km east of the township) mining gold and processing his ore at the Yalgogrin stamper battery. He was then 74.From late Lilian Woolley's notes at Mudgee Historical Society 1988

In the letter from Yalgogrin to his daughter Ethel (June 1919), he describes the severe drought at that time and states his intention to come down to Sydney via Mudgee as soon as he can process his ore at the Yalgogrin stamper battery.

In 1921, at 76, he was back in Mudgee mining and was well known for his expertise."Antimony has been mined at Green Swamp and Piambong. Molybdenite, mostly too low grade for present extraction, but in all probability to be worked profitably when improved methods are used, has been found in granite country over a wide area around Wilbetree, Havilah, Botobolar, Cassilis Road (18-mile peg) and Moolarben. The veteran prospector, Mr. W. C. Wall, is working the latter deposit."; Mudgee Centenary Celebrations Booklet – 1921

He spent the last few years of his life in Sydney.

Biography