The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Yuille, William Cross
Yuille, William Cross, was born at Cardross, Dumbartonshire on March 28th, 1819, and after spending three years in the West India firm of Jas. Ewing & Co., in Glasgow, emigrated to Tasmania, where he arrived in Dec. 1836. In February of the following year Mr. Yuille landed with a flock of merino sheep, at Point Henry, near Geelong, in the new settlement of Port Phillip. He took up a run at Murgheballoak on the Barwon River, and formed one of the search party organised to look for Messrs. Gellibrand and Hesse, who had disappeared, and were afterwards ascertained to have been murdered by the blacks. After doing much pioneering and exploration work in various parts of what is now the colony of Victoria, Mr. Yuille, in 1838, removed to the Ballarat district; and two years later, having sold his station there, went to New Zealand, where he was present at the ceremony of taking possession of those islands for the British Government by Governor Hobson, and the signing of the memorable treaty of Waitangi. Returning to Victoria Mr. Yuille embarked in squatting at Rockbank, on the Werribee plains, occupying the country from within a few miles of Williamstown to Mount Cotterell. There he owned and trained a number of successful performers on the Victorian turf, and after revisiting England several times, where he made fresh purchases, he settled in Williamstown in 1885, and reared numerous winners in his stables. Mr. Yuille was for many years one of the foremost men on the Victorian turf, being one of the stewards of the Jockey Club, handicapper to the Victoria Racing Club, and one of the leading members of Tattersall's committee, until his retirement in 1881. For six years he contributed to the Australasian under the soubriquet "Peeping Tom," and is the compiler of the "Australian Stud Book," which is recognised as the standard work of reference throughout the Australasian Colonies.