General Notes

From Fraser Watson, New Zealand
Thomas was a merchant in early Melbourne as a wine & spirit merchant he was also a draper for much of the time. He lived in a part of Melbourne which was then known as Emerald Hill (now South Melbourne), very near to where the Formula One Grand Prix is run. This area is South of the Yarra River. The main City of Melbourne is on the Northern side. His house was only a block or two back from South Melbourne beach. In the early days of Melbourne the people of Emerald Hill wanted to have their own town council and not be under the Melbourne council. Thomas was in the forefront of the fight to break away from the Melbourne authority. They eventually won and many people were surprised that Thomas did not go on to be part of the council as undoubtedly he would have been elected easily. However, he believed that his part was finished and other people were better suited to be on the council.
His house called Montalto was still standing about ten years ago when I went to find it but had been taken over by a school run by some Eastern sect.