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Thomas Morris McWILLIAM

Male 1854 - 1933  (79 years)


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  • Name Thomas Morris McWILLIAM 
    Birth 1854  Balmain, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Death 15 Apr 1933  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Burial 18 Apr 1933  Fawkner, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 3, 4
    • MCWILLIAMS, THOMAS MORRIS
      Fawkner Cemetery, Presbyterian Section
    Obituary 5 May 1933  [5
    Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser 

    • OBITUARY.

      THOMAS MORRIS McWILLAM.

      We have received news from Mr. Granville Burage, of "Woorilla," Toronto, informing us that Thomas Morris McWilliam died in Melbourne on 15th April, aged 79 years. Deceased was privately interred at Fawkner cemetery, Melbourne. Our informant received word to that effect from Dr. Lockyer Potter, who, he believes, was a relative of deceased.

      As a boy, Mr. Burage went to Dungog school with "Tom." and kept in touch with him until about three years ago.

      His death breaks a link in the chain of memories of early Dungog. His parents were in business here away back in the 50's and 60's, and Tom was well-known to the whole district. He enlisted at the time of the Boer war and fought with distinction in South Africa.

      Many residents will learn with regret the passing of an old and popular friend.
    Obituary 15 Aug 1933  [1
    Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser 

    • OBITUARY.

      MR. T. M. McWILLIAM.

      An old identity of Dungog passed away recently in the person of Thomas Morris McWilliam, who died on 15th April, and was interred privately at Fawkner cemetery, Melbourne. Deceased spent his boyhood and early youth, and intermittent years afterwards, at Dungog, where his father Thomas McWilliam (a Glasgow University man) and his uncle Peter McWilliam were engaged in business. Born at Balmain in 1854, the gold fever seems to have entered his blood, and never left it, so that we find him working in the mines and prospecting for gold in all the States of the Commonwealth, including West Australia from which territory he returned sure of its mineral richness years before the discovery of Coolgardie. True to his colours he spent his latest years in an almost inaccessible part of Gippsland, in the neighbourhood of old Victorian mining districts.

      In his early years Mr. McWilliam had a taste for military life; he served in the New South Wales Permanent Artillery, and in a semi-military body of Mounted Police in New Zealand at a time of Maori unrest. He was also a trooper in the New South Wales Mounted Police, and during the Boer War of 1899-1902 he had to his credit a long period of active service in South Africa, attaining the rank of sergeant. When the Commonwealth Government adopted compulsory military training in 1910, McWilliam brought before the authorities certain recommendations based on his own experiences. In 1914 he visited Great Britain, and whilst there submitted to the War Office original ideas concerned with long range gunnery. He had the exciting experience when war was declared of being at sea en route for Australia in the German liner Roon, which ran for Batavia and was interned there by the Dutch. Eventually reaching Australia, McWilliam being rejected for active service on account of age, was active in offering to the Defence Department suggestions for combating the submarine menace, and other matters, which received the acknowledgment of the authorities.

      The deceased gentleman was very proud of his descent on his mother's side from the Lockyers of Devonshire; his grandfather being Major Edmund Lockyer ; who was sent by Governor Darling from Sydney with a detachment of soldiers and some convicts to form a settlement at King George's Sound, West Australia, where he landed 21st January 1827, on the site of the present town of Albany, thereby becoming the instrument by which Great Britain made her first official claim to the possession of the whole of Australia.
    Person ID I9403  Colston & Wenck families in Australia
    Last Modified 20 Aug 2014 

    Father Thomas McWILLIAM   d. 1883, Dungog, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Louisa Harris LOCKYER,   b. 13 Aug 1826, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 31 Aug 1911, Dungog, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 85 years) 
    Marriage 31 Jan 1854  Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F434  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 1854 - Balmain, New South Wales, Australia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 15 Apr 1933 - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 18 Apr 1933 - Fawkner, Victoria, Australia Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend Address Cemetery Farm Town Parish City County/Shire State/Province Country Region Not Set

  • Sources 
    1. [S342] National Library of Australia, Australian Newspapers, 1933 'OBITUARY.', Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954), 15 August, p. 1, viewed 2 April, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141143288.

    2. [S80] Death Index Victoria 1921-1985, (Melbourne, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, 1998), 1933/2675.

    3. [S82] Fawkner Cemetery Records [database on-line], (http://www.fcmp.com.au/deceasedsearch.asp), Fawkner Cemetery, Presbyterian Section.

    4. [S342] National Library of Australia, Australian Newspapers, 1933 'Family Notices.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 16 August, p. 12, viewed 2 April, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16998824.

    5. [S342] National Library of Australia, Australian Newspapers, 1933 'OBITUARY.', Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954), 5 May, p. 2, viewed 2 April, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141138336.