e. j. c. wraith is reported at an early age in november 1896, for displays of electrical appliances at the bendigo juvenile industrial exhibition, where he was awarded a gold and a silver medal. from 1898 to 1903 he was a student at the bendigo school of mines and employed by the victorian railways department as an engine driver. he displayed interest in electrical science and was encouraged in this by school staff and eventually he was constructing his own wireless telegraphy equipment, being the first to do so in the bendigo district. in january 1902 he is reported as conducting successful experiments with his self-made equipment of the marconi type, set up in the bendigo town hall. messages were sent from one end of the hall to the other, in the presence of g. v. allen, the secretary of the bendigo jubilee exhibition. a public demonstration of wireless was subsequently given at the exhibition in march 1902, with the registrar of the school captain g. alec. thomson assisting. in june 1902, the roles were reversed with thomson lecturing and wraith demonstrating both wireless and x-rays technology. little of wraith is heard subsequently, he does not appear in early lists of licensed wireless experimenters. in 1916 he filed an application for a patent for "improvements relating to apparatus for inducing air drifts or blasts."