BACKHOUSE (James) and TAYLOR (Charles). The Life and Labours of George Washington Walker, of Hobart Town, Tasmania.1862

London: A. W. Bennett, First Edition, xii, 556, 12pp., portrait, ownership inscription of on upper blank margin of title, original brown blind-stamped cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, a nice copy. "In 1827 Walker joined the Society of Friends, his diaries contain extracts of his remarkable journeys with James Backhouse, visiting the convict settlements in Van Dieman's Land, South Wales (including, at that time, Moreton Bay), and Norfolk Island. His wife was a member of Lady Franklin's committee to visit the female prisoners. In 1843 he was appointed to a board of inquiry into conditions at the Female Factory, built by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur in 1827 in accord with Elizabeth Fry's recommendations. Worried over the growing number of prostitutes, he formed a committee to 'suppress vice' by finding employment for destitute women. In 1848 Lieutenant-Governor Denison asked him to share in the task of providing an asylum for these women, and noted in his journal: 'the very personification of a mild, benevolent, and excellent Quaker' A respected founder with Backhouse of the Society of Friends in Hobart, Walker was always ready to plead for any convict under punishment by solitary confinement or treadmill for refusing in Quaker custom to remove his hat in respect to authority, to explain to judges the Quaker aversion to oaths, or to reason against state aid to religion. Although unable to repeat his missionary journeys, he managed to visit Friends around the island and encouraged others to travel 'in the ministry' to help new Meetings on the mainland". - Australian Dictionary of Biography. Ferguson, 6473.