Obituaries Australia

Another link with the very old days of Dubbo is serviced by the death, at the ripe old age of 82, of William Walden, who came to Dubbo 54 years ago, and passed away quietly on Saturday last at his home in Brisbane street. For many years Mr. Walden drove for Cobb and Co., an employment which he kept up until coaches became a thing of the past. For a long time he was on the Orange to Bourke line, and when the train went through to Bourke he drove the coach from Dubbo to Coonamble.

Widely known and respected through-out the West, the late Mr. Walden on retiring took an hotel in Gilgandra, and later came to Dubbo, where he had lived for many years prior to his death. He was full of strange tales of the early coaching days, and was frequently visited by old Westerners coming to this town. He was a native of Wilberforce, on the Hawkesbury River. Mr. Walden leaves a widow, six sons and one daughter, the sons being Frederick and Melville, of Nabiac, Herbert, Sidney and Frank, of Sydney, and Wilfred, of Gilgandra. The daughter is Mrs. P. C. Rose, of Dubbo.

The body was taken to Gilgandra by motor hearse on Sunday, and the funeral took place in the Methodist portion of the cemetery at this place after a service had been held in the church by the Rev. Bensley, who also officiated at the graveside. The coffin was borne from the church to the hearse by two sons and two sons-in-law, and from the hearse to the graveside by four grandsons. All but two of Mr. Walden's children were natives of Dubbo. There was a large concourse of relatives and friends at the graveside. The funeral arrangements were in the hands of Mr. J. R. Tighe.