A resident of Ballarat (Victoria), J. W. Mills reportedly arrived 'in the colony in the infant days of gold digging'. Mills was a 'frequent contributor' to the press and many of the poems which appear in the selected work, Lays of Lake Wendouree, 'Mind Your Locomotive', and Other Poems (1892), were previously published in various newspapers of the day.
(Source: Mills, Lays of Lake Wendouree, 'Mind Your Locomotive', and Other Poems, 1892)
