General News
27 February, 2026
Who was Wallace?
ACCORDING to the Guinness Book of Records, the world’s oldest serving prisoner was detained for 63 years in Ararat. Bill Wallace was arrested in 1925 charged with murder and died in 1989 just shy of his 108th birthday. He was the man time forgot until renowned author Gideon Haigh set about uncovering the story of the man with the dubious honour of being world’s oldest prisoner. The new book Who is Wallace was officially launched in Ararat this week.
Around 80 people gathered at J Ward on Wednesday for the launch of the new publication.
Wallace’s story isn’t too dissimilar of many who went through the mental health system.
On 9 December 1925, a forty-four-year-old man giving his name as Bill Wallace was arrested in Melbourne for the shooting of a young electrician following an altercation over whether smoking was permitted in a cafe at lunchtime.
‘Who Is Wallace?’ asked newspapers at the time.
Yet Wallace would make no statement, refused to give evidence, and offered no personal information.
He was deemed unfit to stand trial and was turned over to the Department of the Insane in Ararat where he died in 1989, aged almost 108.
The Guinness Book of Records still accords him the status of ‘the world’s oldest prisoner.
Who Is Wallace? tells the story of a man time forgot.
Mr Haigh said his interest was sparked after a question from his daughter.
“At the end of 2023 my daughter Cecilia said to me one day ‘Dad, who is the world’s oldest prisoner’ and I said I don’t know. That is a very interesting question. I kind of imagined it would be someone who had been confined to a Soviet gulag or in death row in an American prison.
“But when we had recourse to the eternal fallback of the Guines Book of Records, I discovered he was not only Australian, but a Victorian, Bill Wallace from Ararat of all places.
“His story beggared belief. A man who lingered in captivity to almost the age of 108, without trial, without judicial review or reappraisal, without outside protest or advocacy and without ever giving an account of the crime which he was accused.
“From the moment Bill Wallace was taken into custody 100 years ago in December, he portrayed nothing of his origins and circumstances.
“Here was a man who was detailed at the pleasure of one governor and who outlived the next eight,” he said.
J Ward Vice President Peter Waterman said visitors to the museum often ask about Bill Wallace during regular tours.
“Over 30 years we have been running tours here and we get people from all over Victoria, Australia and the world. Bill Wallace’s name has been mentioned at almost every tour here,” he said.
“Gideon has turned up, and the amount of research he has done has given us an awful lot more information about Bill Wallace,” Mr Waterman said.
Who is Wallace? Is available online via Readings Books www.readings.com.au.
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