William Alexander WALLACE (1899-1994)

William Alexander WALLACE was a Wireless Operator. He worked at Awarua Radio from at least 1935 according to electoral rolls. He was appointed Superintendent Awarua Radio on 4 August 1947, replacing L.G.Emens who was promoted to Superintendent Auckland Radio. He retired on 5 December 1954. After retirement William and his family moved to Christchurch.

Awarua Radio (call sign VLB or ZLB), on the Awarua Plain in Southland, was New Zealand's main receiving and transmitting coast radio station providing worldwide radiotelegraph and voice communications with ships at sea. The facility was operated from 18 December 1913 by the New Zealand Post Office (to 31 March 1986) then by Telecom New Zealand until the station closed on 30 August 1991.

The photograph shows Awarua Radio operators at work when ZLB had to handle extra traffic due to a major snowfall in Canterbury which took out landlines in August 1945. William Wallace, Superintendent, is standing in the centre of the photograph. He has black hair, glasses and is wearing a dark pullover and light long sleeve shirt.

From Wikipedia and AWARUA RADIO VLB - ZLB.

• Married: 1929 in New Zealand

1. Living WALLACE
2. Living WALLACE