A. E. 'Darkie' Wallace who wrote under the name, 'The Axeman', was an important 'Goldfields Bard'. Left an orphan at an early age after the deaths of his parents Laura (Armstrong) and Alexander Warren, his upbringing was supervised by his maternal grandparents who had a large family of their own. His birth name was Christopher Alexander Graham Warren, but after moving to the goldfields he changed his name to Alfred Edward Wallace. Before settling at Meekatharra, in Western Australia's Murchison District, Wallace was a champion axeman, log chopper, sleeper cutter and shingle splitter. Described as a tall man with black hair and a black moustache, he was also a cattle drover and shearer. At Meekatharra he worked underground at the Kyarra gold mine where he contracted a lung disease that later claimed his life. He also worked at the Belele pastoral station. Selected poems and stories written by 'The Axeman' were published by the Telegraph Printing and Publishing Co. (Meekatharra) under the title, Cobbers of Mine and Other Poems, in 1919.
Grandfather of M. K. (Dixie) Solly, q.v.
