(1834 - 1861)

Born in England, Wills left for Australia in 1853 and arrived in Victoria later that year. First working as a shepherd, then as an assistant to his father, a doctor, he decided to study surveying and was eventually appointed to the Melbourne observatory.

Robert O'Hara Burke was to select Wills to accompany him, as his third in command, on his ill fated expedition to traverse Australia in 1860. Following the dismissal of George Landell he rose to deputy in command and he continued with Burke on an expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They both were to die on their return trek, and their bodies were eventually returned to Melbourne for a public funeral.

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