Major R Wallace - Ballarat Rangers - circa 1863

[slick_mick]

The Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Regiment was formed on 26 July 1858. The need for a local militia in Victoria had arisen since the rise of bushrangers in the early 1840s. Governor Sir Charles Hotham approved an Act to establish a Volunteer Corps in 1854 of a force not exceeding 2,000 members. By 1860 this had been amended to 10,000.

A month after forming, the Ballarat Volunteer Rifle Regiment was renamed the Ballarat Rangers, this name being used until 1884, when it became the 3rd Battalion, Victoria Rifles. In Victoria, scarlet cuffs were worn only by Prahran & South Yarra Rifles and the Ballarat Rangers - but the sash belt with bugle horn inside a garter surmounted by a crown, which the soldier in this carte de visite is wearing, was worn only by the Ballarat Rangers.

A shako (not a later busby) rests on the chair beside the officer, and suggests a date of around 1862-63. The length of the lace on the cuffs denotes a higher rank - and if this officer is a major, then he is probably Major R. Wallace, who retired in 1863.