Osbert Edrick Wilson

Osbert Edrick Wilson (1857 – July 1901) was a clerk, poet, author, orator and a Chief President of the Australian Natives' Association.

Background Wilson was born in Ballarat in 1857, the son of Jonathon Noble Wilson and Martha Stripling. The father was active in public affairs; in 1885 he was mayor of Ballarat. The son – followed his father's lead. He was an active member of the Ballarat rowing, swimming and football clubs, and he was in demand for his recitations at concerts and social evenings. In July 1885 Wilson became a probationary Lieutenant in the Victorian Militia. Then in 1886 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Militia at Ballarat.

In 1886, he married Lily Araminta Guthridge. She was the eighth child of Nehemiah Guthridge, an early settler in Victoria. They had two daughters.

Australian Natives' Association Wilson was active in the Australian Natives Association (ANA) in Ballarat and the region. He attended of the opening of the Horsham Branch No. 24 and also the Haddon Branch No. 25 His lectures seem to have become increasingly nativist and anti-imperialist in tone. In an editorial in the ANA journal the Australian Wilson declared that: A race is growing up to whom the Old World is but a name for a state of Conservatism and armed terrorism, to whom the old racial and national distinctions are as nought … They will fight strenuously to keep their native land's shores free from pollution, and their forces and money from being dragged into foreign quarrels which to Australia are of little moment.. Aveling describes Wilson as "an Australian nationalist with a fierce radical dislike of British cant, cast and imperialism. His desire was not to enter parliament but to influence national policy by making the association an active force in national policy.

When James Purves led the Melbourne ANA Branch into a declaration of republicanism, Wilson was one of those members whose refusal to rise to the loyal toast scandalised Melbourne society.

Wilson was one of the attendees to a conference in 1887 to consider the creation of the ANA Metropolitan Committee and was buried at Boroondara Cemetery, Kew. He was survived by his wife and a daughter, Beryl Noble Wilson. Wilson, the nationalist, had the satisfaction of living to see the achievement of the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901.