Born in Surry Hills in 1862 and left orphaned by the death of his father when he was thirteen. H.W. Horning took a position as office boy in a city customs agent's office in Sydney. Wishing to become a sailor, he took his first voyage several years later, on the Duke of Sutherland, to London via Cape Horn. He took several other positions on sailing ships, including a stint on the famous clipper Cutty Sark, then running wool between Australia and England. His last voyage returned him to Sydney in 1884.
Also in 1884, he founded the real-estate company H.W. Horning and Company, which he ran for 45 years. He sold the company in 1930 and retired to Collaroy, from which place he wrote a series of short essays on his windjammer days.
Source:
'Mr. H.W. Horning', Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1934, p.16.
