Wally grew up in rural NSW in a town called Windsor. After realizing he had a real natural ability to swim he moved to the Gold Coast to pursue his swimming career. He just missed out on an Olympic spot for the 2012 London Olympics on the swimming team. But after that he has gone on to win two National titles in different surf life saving disciplines.

He recently moved to Sydney and currently lives in the Bronte surf life saving club as the caretaker.

This is his first season as a fulltime seasonal lifeguard at Bondi.