In 1848 he joined the Royal Irish Constabulary, but five years later emigrated to Tasmania.

Thence he went to Victoria, where he entered the local police force, and became an Inspector.

Such was his position when he was offered the command of the expedition which ended in his death.
William John Wills was born at Totnes, in Devonshire.

He was the son of a medical man, and after his arrival in Victoria, in 1852, he led for a time a bush life on the Edwards River.

He was later employed as a surveyor in Melbourne, and then became assistant to Professor Neumayer at the Melbourne Observatory, a post he quitted in order to act as assistant-surveyor on the ill-starred journey.
Sentiment, and an hysterical sentiment at that, seems to have dominated this expedition throughout.