alter McGill (c.1826-1881) was a master-stonemason and sculptor, often described as a phrenologist and caricaturist as well. Born in Edinburgh in the mid-1820s, he came out to Australia in the 1850s. His sudden death at the age of 57 merited a postmortem examination; the Coroner's report appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald of 5 July 1881. There McGill is described as having arrived about 28 years before, and as having died from the after-effects of being knocked down by a horse, and as the result of drinking — although the immediate cause of death is given as the rupture of an aortic aneurism.
McGill is remembered for a variety of works in his new homeland, starting with "a lot" in Port Fairy, Victoria, in the mid-1850s when he first arrived (qtd. in Scarlett 395). His work here ranged from church carvings and monuments to architectural sculpture on a variety of buildings, public and private. He also produced St. Jude’s Fountain and the statue of Captain Cook in Randwick, a suburb just to the south-east of Sydney: the lifesize statue has been described as "technically remarkable" (Hutchison 300). Other work includes the carved capitals on the extension of the Australian Museum, and allegorical figures on the façade of Sydney General Post Office. The carving on the replica of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, now in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, is another particularly fine example of his skills.
Little is known about McGill's personal life, but it does not seem to have been a happy one: he was evidently a heavy drinker, and only his housekeeper is mentioned in the Coroner's report. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Works
Bibliography
Coroner's Inquests. Sydney Morning Herald. 5 July 1881, p. 7. Trove. Web. 28 February 2026. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28381710
Hutchison, Noel. "Australian Sculpture during the 1870s." Art Quarterly Vol. 15, No. 3 (Autumn, March 1977): 297-300. Web. 28 February 2026. https://artandaustralia.com/archive/PDF_LO/b1112309-00059-00001_Mobile.pdf
"McGill, Walter." Dictionary of Sydney. Web. 28 February 2026. https://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/mcgill_walter
Scarlett, Ken. "McGill, Walter." Australian Sculptors. West Melbourne: Thomas Nelson Australia, 1980.
Created 28 February 2026