 Born on 4 April 1900 in Benalla , Victoria , Hector MacDonald Laws Waller was the son of William Frederick Waller , a grocer , and his wife Helen Waller ( née Duncan ) . Hec Waller was named in honour of General Hector MacDonald , hero of the Boer War , and a forebear called Laws who was an admiral and a contemporary of Nelson . The youngest of ten children , of whom eight survived infancy , he attended Benalla Higher Elementary School . 
