Yaralla is one of those thoroughbred stories that come along from time to time. It is a story of a first time owner who struck it big albeit an extremely wealthy one to begin with. We talk of Egmont Palmer (Monty) Walker who was born in Brisbane in 1881 and had always wanted to own a racehorse. Monty was the son of the Hon. James Walker, a director of the Bank of New South Wales and enlisted in March 1916, eventually became a lieutenant serving in the 8th Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps. Following the Armistice in November 1918, Monty returned home where a less exciting career at his father’s bank awaited.
By the start of World War II, Walker had found himself in the position to be able to afford what he liked. His aunt, the noted Australian philanthropist, Dame Eadith Walker, had died in October 1937 leaving an estate sworn for probate at £265,345. An only child, upon the death of her father in 1886, Eadith had inherited a fortune which was valued at
