THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM — EARLY HISTORY— ETHERIDGE. 77 



Clarke, releo-ating Mr. W. S. WalP to the tliird place in 

 succession. I have been unable to ascertain when Mr. Clarke 

 relinquished the position and Mr. Wall assumed the title. In 

 the Minutes of 8th June, 18-i'2 tliere is a Sub-Committee 

 record oF : — 



" Mr. Wall the Preserver." 



doing some collecting. 



At the meeting on September 12th, 1845, the retirement of 

 Mr. Clarke from the position of paid Secretary was announced. 

 The eutiy leads : — 



" It being observed to the Meeting that by the retirement from that 

 office of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, the Committee were without 

 the assistance of a Secretary, Mr. Lynd"' at the general desire 

 of the Meeting expressed his readiness to act as Honorary 

 Secretary." 



The entry following the above is of equal interest because it 

 definitely indicates Wall as the Curator at this date (12th Sept., 

 1845). It reads:— 



" The Curator laid before the Meeting a large collection of prepared 

 specimens recently made by his brother, Mr. T. Wall, in the 

 interior of the Colony " et€. 



After the 1st Nov., 1S43, there is a hiatus in the Minutes, 

 and no enti-ies between that date and 12th Sept., 1845, when 

 regulai" meetings were resumed. 



9 Wall, William Sheridan — Was eighteen years in the Public Service 



of New South Wales ; his connection with the Museum was severed in . 



December, IS^S, when he retired on a small pension. His " History and Sj 

 Description of the skeleton of a New Sperm Whale, lately set up in the / 

 Australian Museum " (8vo., 1851) proves Wall to have been an Osteologist 

 of no mean order. Mr. — Wall, son of tlie former Curator, etc. informs 

 me his father was born in Dublin in 181-i. and died in Sydnej% 5th 

 Oct., 1876, aged 62. He arrived in Sydney with his brother, Mr. Thomas 

 Wall, about the year 18-10, and whilst in his native city studied anatomy 

 at Trinity College, under Frof. Robert Harrison. The brother (T. 

 Wall) is often referred to in old Museum documents ; he was a member 

 of the ill-fated Kennedy Expedition to Cape York Peninsula in 1848. 



10 Lt. Robert Lynd, R.N. 



