Garnet Walch

Garnet Walch (1 October 1843 in Broadmarsh (Tasmania) – 3 January 1913 in Melbourne), was an Australian writer, dramatist, journalist and publisher. From 1872 on, he became very popular as author of numerous pantomimes, burlesques, melodramas, comedies and comediettas.

Book cover of Victoria in 1880 by Garnet Walch

Walch was the youngest son of Major J. W. H. Walch, of H.M. 54th Regiment.[1]

He was secretary to the Melbourne Athenaeum between 1873 and 1879.[2]

As a publisher, his most outstanding work was Victoria in 1880, a de luxe book with lavish engravings by Charles Turner, compiled by Walch and published by George Robertson in Melbourne, celebrating the 1880–1881 International Exhibition. The book was inscribed to The Honourable William John Clarke, President of the Victorian International Exhibition Commission.

In 1883 he went to Madagascar as special correspondent for the Argus and the Australasian.

Family

Walch married Ada Kate Ellard (died 13 July 1921) Their children included Kittie, Lizzie, Emily Clairellen ("Clair"), Albert Henry (died 28 May 1923), and Richmond. They had a home "Rubra" on Mont Albert Road, Mont Albert, Victoria.[3]

Selected works
  • Jack the Giant Killer or, Harlequin Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum, the Demon Spider and the Fairies of the Silver Lake (1891)
  • The Trapper (1891) – with Alfred Dampier
  • The Scout (1891) – with Alfred Dampier
  • The Miner's Right (1891) – with Alfred Dampier
  • Robbery Under Arms (1890) – with Alfred Dampier
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (1890) – with Alfred Dampier
  • Sleeping Beauty or, Harlequin Mother Goose and the Seven Champions of Christendom (1885)
  • Bric-a-Brac, a musical comedy in two acts (1885)[4]
  • Dyk Whyttyngtonne and Hys Catte or, Arlekyn Lyttel Bo-Peepe and Ye Faerie Chymes of Bowe-Bells (1881)
  • Gulliver or, Harlequin King Lilliput (1881)
  • Sinbad the Sailor; or The Pet of the Pearl; The Old Man of the Sea; and the Dwarf of the Diamond Valley (1880)
  • The Babes in the Wood (1879)
  • Helen's Babies (1877)
  • Beauty and the Beast, or Harlequin King Glorio the Millionth, the Island of Apes, and the Fairies of the Magic Roses (1875)
  • Adamanta, the Proud Princess of Profusia, and her Six Unlucky Suitors (1874)
  • Australia Felix or, Harlequin Jackass and the Magic Bat (1873)
  • Orpheus (1872)
  • Trookulentos, the Tempter or, Harlequin Cockatoo, the Demon of Discontent (1871)
  • Prometheus or, The Man on the Rock (1870)
  • Conrad the Corsair or, Conrad and Medora (1870)

References
  1. "Family Notices". The Mercury (Hobart). Vol. XCVIII, no. 13, 345. Tasmania, Australia. 6 January 1913. p. 1. Retrieved 20 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Australiana: Garnet Walch". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 30, 654. Victoria, Australia. 25 November 1944. p. 7 (The Argus Week-end Magazine). Retrieved 31 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Family Notices". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 383. Victoria, Australia. 14 July 1921. p. 1. Retrieved 20 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Cockney Comic Gave Us Our Golden Age Of Vaudeville". Truth (Brisbane newspaper). No. 2797. Queensland, Australia. 1 November 1953. p. 17. Retrieved 21 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.


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