Pearl Wallace

Pearl Wallace (2 August 1911 - 2005), also known as Captain Pearl Hogg, was Australia's first qualified woman master mariner, worked as a riverboat skipper and was the inspiration for the book All the Rivers Run, by Nancy Cato.

Early life Wallace was born on 2 August 1911 in Renmark, South Australia and raised on the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin. Wallace grew up in a family of shipwrights and captains, spending her early years on the steamer Alpha, trading along the Darling River. She was the daughter of William Grimwade Collins and Emmie Louise Marshall. Her mother was instrumental in the day-to-day running of the boats taking on housework, mending, and cooking duties as well as working on the deck, piloting and working in the engine room and the pumps. She also attended various land schools and had access to tutors along the river. thumb

Career Captain Pearl Wallace became Australia's first female riverboat skipper in 1947, after earning her River Master's Certificate.

During the 1956 flood, Wallace captained the Vega barge, carrying a large wool cargo along the Darling River, towed by PS Success. She later overhauled the Kookaburra and worked at Murray Bridge, clearing irrigation sluices post-flood.

Legacy Pearl Wallace as depicted in the Women of the River Country Exhibition, 2015. In the 1950s, while at Murray Bridge, she met author Nancy Cato, who was inspired by her life to write All the Rivers Run, which became a popular TV mini-series filmed in Echuca.

Her life story was published in the book Pearl Wallace: A River Woman in 2001.

Personal life She married Neil Dryburgh Wallace in 1931. They divorced in 1954. She later married Hillary Hogg, captain of the PS Canberra.

After retirement she settled in Balhannah, in the Adelaide Hills.

Wallace died in 2005. Find a Grave entry for Pearl Royal Wallace.