The Wallis album is closely linked to the two chests through Captain James Wallis (1785?–1858). Wallis, appointed commandant of the Newcastle penal settlement by Macquarie in 1816, had the Macquarie chest made as a parting gift for Governor Macquarie around 1818. It is possible that Wallis, who retired from the army in 1826 as a Major, put together the album in the 1840s, when he retired to the Isle of Man. Many of the drawings and paintings in the album were the basis for decorating the panels on the two chests. The Library bought the album in October 2011, after it was discovered in the miscellaneous possessions of a deceased estate consigned to auction in Canada.