William Luscombe Searelle was born Isaac Israel and later adopted a professional name formed from Luscombe (in South Australia) and an imperfect anagram of “Israel.” As a child he was taken to New Zealand and ran away to sea at the age of thirteen.
Searelle became associated with the theatre in Australia in 1881 and went to London for the production of a two-act comic opera, The wreck of the “Pinafore” the music of which he had composed. The opera ran for 200 nights and it was a success.