Biography

William Alloo (1861-1943)

William was born in Melbourne on 15 February 1861, and was one of nine children of John Alloo and Margaret Peacock. John joined the Otago Police Force in February 1868 and became the first ethnic Chinese interpreter to the goldfields. William arrived with his mother and the rest of the family in May.

He later returned to Melbourne and worked as a linotype compositor. He was involved in setting up the Australian Star newspaper (later the Sydney Sun). He married Marion Arthur in Sydney, where their three sons were born.

He returned to Otago to work as a linotype operator for the Otago Daily Times, and before World War I he also edited and published several magazines, including the Magpie.

As well as being involved in writing, editing and publishing, William was a cricket, bowling, and trotting enthusiast, and an inventor. He invented a bomb which was considered but not adopted by the Defence Department. Another invention was a ham sandwich machine that sliced, buttered, and ‘hammed’ the bread in one operation. (The plans and patent are still held in the office of Albert Alloo & Sons.) William also made an apparatus for the extraction of gold from sand.

Shortly before he died in Lawrence on 31 January 1943, he was developing a sluicing device for gold recovery in the Tuapeka River. He was survived by his wife, three sons, and a daughter. All his sons had taken up professional careers, and represented Otago in cricket, while his son Arthur represented New Zealand.

Reference:

— Southern People: A Dictionary of Otago Southland Biography