Horatio Wills (1818 – 1861) was a British‑born Australian pastoralist, journalist, and politician. After emigrating to Van Diemen’s Land in the 1830s, he moved to the Port Phillip district (later the colony of Victoria), where he acquired extensive grazing runs and became a prominent member of the pastoral community.
In 1851 Wills was elected to the inaugural Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Western Province (later the electoral district of Grant). During his parliamentary service he advocated for the rights of Aboriginal peoples and supported exploration and infrastructure development in the colony.
Wills also entered the field of journalism, founding the short‑lived newspaper The Monitor in Melbourne, which promoted liberal political reform and frontier issues.
He is historically notable as the father of the acclaimed Australian poet and short‑story writer Henry Lawson. In 1861, while leading an over‑land droving party to establish a settlement near present‑day Barcaldine, Queensland, Wills and several members of his party were killed in an attack by Aboriginal people, an event recorded in contemporary accounts as the Cullin‑La‑Ringo (or Barcaldine) massacre.
His death had a profound influence on his son’s literary work, which often reflects the hardships and violence of the Australian frontier.
References: Australian Dictionary of Biography; Parliament of Victoria historical members list; contemporary newspaper reports of the 1861 Barcaldine incident.
