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Wilton Hack (21 May 1843 – 27 February 1923) was an Australian artist, traveller, pastor, lecturer and utopist with interests in Theosophy and Eastern cultures.
He left for Nagasaki, Japan as a Baptist missionary on the J. H. Jessen in November 1873 with Alfred J. Clode, John D. Clark and T. L. Boag. They were involved with the Rising Sun and Nagasaki Express newspaper, and founded a Sailors' Club, but the mission made little impact, which they attributed to insufficient financial support. While there, he acted as an envoy of the South Australian Government to sound out the Japanese Government's attitude to Japanese nationals settling in the Northern Territory. (In February 1877 he was sent to Japan to continue this dialogue, but the Satsuma Rebellion was occupying Tokyo's attention and his approaches were rebuffed or ignored. Australia and Asia The Advertiser Saturday 17 August 1935 p.10 accessed 15 September 2011)
He returned to Sydney in June 1876 and embarked on a speaking tour of the south-eastern states, which attracted good crowds. He dropped the title "Reverend" and settled at East Maitland in 1877, founding "Wormley House Grammar School" The school was taken over by a Mr Brown in 1879 but did not reopen. In 1881 the property was taken over by W. Morton Sykes for his East Maitland Grammar School.
He helped float the companies that took over "Foley's Claim" and "John Bull Claim" at Bowling Alley Point Peel River Mining Company South Australian Register 29 May 1889 p.2 accessed 12 September 2011 and the nearby Anderson's Flat mine Prospectus Anderson's Flat Alluvial Mine The Advertiser 27 April 1889 p.2 accessed 12 September 2011 in 1889, the Golden Chance at Hanging Rock, New South Wales, and prospected for diamonds at Pine Ridge. At the time of the Western Australian gold rush he went to England, and was appointed manager of the East Murchison Gold Mining Syndicate, which took over the Eagle's Nest mine in the Mount Margaret district, but proved a failure. (Confusingly, his son Wilton Hack jnr was also involved in mining ventures.) Princess Royal G. M. Company The Advertiser Friday 8 March 1929 p.10 accessed 12 September 2011 Bright Hope The Advertiser Friday 17 April 1925 p.10 accessed 12 September 2011
On returning from England to Australia around 1892, Hack visited the Buddhist girls' school run by Mrs Marie Musaeus Higgins in Colombo (its first principal was a Victorian, Kate F. Pickett, who died shortly after taking up the position
In 1899 he succeeded Harry Bambury as president of Buddhist boys school Dharmaraja College in Kandy, and did much good work in raising funds, but ill-health interfered and he retired after only a few months, to be succeeded by C. S. Rajaratnam then K. F. Billimoria.
In mid-1915 he moved to Western Australia, where his sons William and Charles were working. He married again and never returned to South Australia.
Mount Remarkable
In 1893 at a time of high unemployment, he seized on the idea of a communal settlement and procured land at Mount Remarkable, South Australia, his plan being to settle 300 people on 5,000 acres. By March 1894 there were around 130 camped there and a little under 1,000 acres had been secured. Joining fee was £10 for single men, £20 for marrieds. The Village Settlements The Advertiser 2 April 1894 p.7 accessed 12 September 2011 Hack left the settlement around June 1894, citing "ill-health", Village Settlements South Australian Register 11 July 1894 p.6 accessed 13 September 2011 but by another report, because "he was not suited to a villager's life ... he wanted to be a kind of autocrat". Mount Remarkable South Australian Register 28 October 1895 p.6 accessed 13 September 2011 By the end of 1895 after another poor season around half the settlers had left, and those who remained were working hard but surviving on meagre rations. In 1896 the village was closed by the Government and its assets sold though some families stayed on.
Theosophy and Ceylon
Hack became associated with Theosophy and some time before 1894 began adding the initials "F.T.S." to his name. Lectures Sydney Morning Herald 6 August 1894 p.8 accessed 15 September 2011 He wrote a hymn "Abide with Me" in 1899, to be found in Theosophical literature, (based on the famous hymn by Henry F Lyte) as well as several books influenced by Theosophical thought. Occult and Psychic Phenomena The Advertiser 31 July 1909 p.13 Retrieved 15 September 2011 This interest in Eastern philosophy coincided with an involvement in two educational establishments in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka):
Reported here as suicide. The Pickett Tragedy The Theosophist Vol XIII No. 4 January 1892 accessed 20 September 2011
An extensive report. H. S. Olcott gives sleepwalking theory.), and was sufficiently impressed to promise funds for a more suitable schoolhouse than the mud hut they were using. This was forthcoming and the Musaeus College's first permanent school building was completed in 1895. He remained a member of the board of trustees until his death. Musaeus. History
Back in Australia
He returned to Glenelg early in 1900 and became active in the local community, as organiser of a Benevolent Society, Glenelg Benevolent Association The Advertiser 25 August 1908 p.9 accessed 14 September 2011 vice-president of the United Labor Party, Democratic Hall and Library for Glenelg The Advertiser 22 February 1909 p.8 accessed 14 September 2011 and served as a magistrate. Woman's Unaccountable Action The Register 25 December 1909 p.5 accessed 14 September 2011
Family life
He married again, to Minnie Alice Vierk of Farrell Flat, South Australia on 26 April 1916. She died, age 80, in 1955.
Legacy
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