Henry WALLEN

"GOVERNOR" HENRY WALLEN

Wallen arrived on Kangaroo Island circa 1819 as a free settler.

He established a farm at "Three Wells", Cygnet River, and has

been described at South Australia's first farmer. He is said to

have been a quiet, industrious, well-behaved man.

He was a successful hunter, familiar with the Bible and kind to

his aboriginal wives and son, Henry Jnr.

When the first official settlers arrived in 1836,

Wallen introduced himself as "The Governor". He was helpful

to the colonists in many ways but was unfairly dispossessed of

his farm and stock when the SA Company took it it over for their

office. Wallen moved to Hog Bay and returned to hunting, while

Henry Jnr was sent to Hobart Town to receive an education.

Henry Jnr became known as Whalley and joined whaling ships.

He was a pall-bearer at the funeral of William Lanney,

the last full-blood male Tasmanian aboriginal in March 1859.

Whalley, the chief harpooner in a whaling expedition,

died following the wreck of the Bencleugh at Macquarie Island

in August 1877.

"Governor" Wallen lived out his life on Kangaroo Island until

poor health required him to go to Adelaide for medical

treatment. He died at the Gresham Hotel, King William Street,

in April 1856, at 62 years of age. His body was brought back to

Kangaroo Island on the cutter Breeze and

interred in this cemetery.

The Kangaroo Island Pioneers' Association Inc. provided this

plaque, assisted by a State Government grant, to commemorate

175 years of official European settlement on Kangaroo Island.

Unveiled on 27th July, 2011