sketcher and schoolmaster, a Londoner of Welsh parents, was a Wesleyan schoolteacher who came to Melbourne from England via Sydney in January 1839, having been appointed one of four initial assistant protectors to the Port Phillip Aborigines under Chief Protector G.A. Robinson . The most sympathetic and understanding of the officials within this system, Thomas drew many pencil sketches of the Aboriginal people in his districts – the Melbourne, Westernport and Gippsland areas – such as a portrait of Windberry (shot October 1840), Nerenunnin Throwing a Spear , the crudely executed Regular Row, or Fight Between Themselves (c.1840) and the more developed pen and wash Billy Billy – alias Urquor . His view of Robinson talking to a group of Aborigines in a bush camp is dated 5 April 1843.
Although his headquarters were officially at Narre Warren, Dandenong, Thomas moved around and lived (in a tent) with the local Aboriginal people, often accompanied by his wife and family. A bark-and-slab hut he had erected near the junction of Merri Creek and the Yarra River in 1845 became his school in 1846-51. After the protectorate was abolished at the end of 1849, Thomas was appointed guardian of the Aborigines. Having fought for reserves and supply depots, he was appointed official visitor when these were established in modified form in 1860, but his health failed soon after his appointment and he was only able to continue as adviser. He died on 1 December 1867.
A large collection of Thomas’s journals, reports and correspondence is in the Mitchell Library. Many drawings and other material are in the R. Brough Smyth Papers (La Trobe Library), some used in Brough Smyth’s The Aborigines of Victoria and Other Parts of Australia (Melbourne 1878).
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
