Obituaries Australia

The death has occurred of Lady Wilson; widow of Sir Samuel Wilson, of Ercildoune, Victoria, a noted pastoralist. The late Sir Samuel Wilson was a well-known Australian pastoralist and member of the Victorian Parliament. He was the son of an Irish farmer, and, emigrating to Melbourne in 1852, acquired large pastoral interests in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, including the famous Ercildoune Estate, near Burrumbeet, which is noted for its breed of merino sheep. He presented the Melbourne University with £30,000 (or, with accrued interest, £37,000) for the erection of the Wilson Hall in 1870. Sir Samuel, who was knighted in 1875, retired in the early eighties to reside in England, where he rented the estate of Hughenden Manor, formerly the residence of the late Lord Beaconsfield. He represented Buckinghamshire in the House of Commons for six years. Lady Wilson was the daughter of the Hon. W. Campbell, of Victoria.