amateur photographer, civil servant and squatter, was born in Ulster, Ireland. In 1829 he left County Kildare with his wife Sarah, née Alexander, and their children, travelling to Sydney in charge of convicts. In 1843 he took over the pastoral lease of Jimbour on the Darling Downs, Queensland (then still part of NSW) and placed a manager on the property until his sons, Joshua Peter and Alexander, were old enough to run it in 1847. His eldest son, (Sir) Joshua Peter Bell (1827-81), was soon managing Jimbour on his own while Thomas remained in NSW.
When Sarah died at Parramatta on 12 June 1853 Thomas Bell decided to move to Queensland too. Two months later he was advertising in the Sydney Morning Herald that he was 'a Gentleman about to travel into the interior’ who wished to purchase a daguerreotype camera, plates and cases. He preferred the equipment to be suitable for both views and portraits. Thomas Bell died at Waterstown, near Ipswich, on 5 September 1872, aged 74. No photographs are known.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 1989
