Migrating from England with his family, William Little was twelve years old when he arrived at Corio Bay, Geelong (Victoria) on Christmas Eve 1851. By the age of fourteen he gained employment as a messenger in the Geelong Customs House before working as a clerk for Mr James Oddie in Ballarat. Little remained in the latter of these positions for the following twenty-one years while also going on to study as an undergraduate at the University of Melbourne.
In 1880 Little began his own business in Ballarat, establishing a successful career as an auctioneer, real estate agent, insurance and finance agent. With an active interest in civic duties, he also became a Justice of the Peace, a City Councillor (1883-1892) and was mayor of Ballarat from 1889 to 1891. While holding this office, Little initiated a number of notable civic projects such as participating with the citizens of Ballarat in planting 1,250 trees in Victoria Park on Arbour Day (1890). He was also a prominent member of the Wesleyan Church (where he held the position of a 'licensed' lay preacher) and the Freemasons.
Writing both under his own name and the pseudonym 'Lambda', Little was a prodigious poet. According to Angus and Robertson's 1910 catalogue, Little's poetry was produced in forty-three 'booklets and leaflets'; many of these publications remain untraced. In addition to poetry, Little wrote a work of short fiction Trinity of Man : Reflections in Phantasy [1896] and published an essay, A Visit to Topos, and How the Science of Heredity Is Practised (1897), which proposes utopian ideals. He also produced historical articles, sketches and guidebooks relating primarily to the Ballarat area. (Percival Serle, A Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse, 1925)
In 1862 Little married Catherine (Kate) Walford Cazaly. A concert pianist, organist and piano teacher, Cazaly contributed her knowledge of music to the Little household which became noted for holding 'Sunday afternoon soirées' of 'solo and chamber music'. Reflecting his interest in music, many of Little's poems written for religious or special occasions were given musical settings, such as 'God Bless These Twain So Great' which was produced as a hymn of welcome for the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York, and His Consort, the Grand Duchess in May 1901.
