Wallace Alexander Nelson was born in Aberbeen. At age 15 he ran away to London where he contributed republican verse to Reynold's Weekly Newspaper and was a member of the Radical Party.
In 1888 Nelson emigrated to Australia where he edited a succession of newspapers including The Stockwhip in 1890, The People's Newspaper (Rockhampton) from 1896-1901, The Westralian Worker from 1901 to December 1902, The Kalgoorlie Sun and Figaro. From June 1904 to October 1905 he represented the Hannan constituency in the first Western Australian Labor government before returning to newspaper editing at The Democrat (Perth). He next worked as a leader-writer at The Daily News (Perth) and contributed to the Perth literary journal, Leeuwin.
From 1914 to 1916 the Western Australian government appointed Nelson as their official immigration lecturer in England. Returning to Australia he worked as the founding editor of Australasian Manufacturer, a position that he held until 1943. After 1926 he also frequently contributed articles to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography online. Accessed 29 September 2008.
