Sir Thomas Elder

Sir Thomas Elder

Thomas migrated to Adelaide in 1854 and worked for a year with George. He then formed a partnership with Edward Stirling, Robert Barr Smith and John Taylor: Elder, Stirling & Co. In 1856 Barr Smith married Thomas's sister Joanna. She became Adelaide's most renowned hostess but Thomas always lived quietly and never married. Elder, Stirling & Co. financed in 1859 the Wallaroo and Moonta Copper Mines which, after initial risks, brought them great wealth. Stirling and Taylor retired and the two remaining partners formed Elder Smith & Co. which became one of the world's largest wool-selling firms. While still active as agents they built up a huge pastoral territory, spreading further and further from the civilized fringe and moving into the untouched wastes of South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. They tackled the outback problems by spending many thousands of pounds in fencing and sinking bores though their properties constituted a land mass finally much larger than the whole of their native Scotland. Thomas's holdings included Paratoo (3000 square miles [7770 km²]), Umberatana, Mount Lyndhurst and Blanchewater (3000 square miles [7770 km²]) and Beltana (900 square miles [2331 km²]).

Thomas was an enthusiastic and practical supporter of exploration and saw the camel as the answer to the transport problems of the outback. His first imported batch of breeding camels included three types for speed, stamina and strength; he also brought out Afghans to manage the beasts. From the original 124 camels he bred a sturdy stock at Beltana. A hundred were used in building the overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin in 1872 and they were established as indispensable in Peter Egerton Warburton's 4000-mile (6437 km) journey from the centre of Australia to the western coast in 1872-73. Ernest Giles's exploration in 1875 also succeeded with camels. Thomas financed both these expeditions as well as those of John Ross in 1874, Lewis in 1875 and the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia in 1891. He also lent camels and drivers to genuine expeditions of discovery and much land was opened up as a result of his ardent interest in exploration. In 1890 he wrote to Baron von Mueller offering to finance a trip to the Antarctic.

Thomas published in Adelaide for private circulation four pamphlets describing early travels of his own. Notes From a Pocket Journal of a Trip Up the River Murray in 1856 (1893) reports his two-month journey in Captain Francis Cadell's steamer and attests to his immediate enjoyment of his new home. Narrative of a Tour in Palestine in 1857 (1894) describes a spontaneous jaunt from Cairo to Mount Sinai and Jerusalem which Thomas made with a party of Englishmen, his first experience of camel riding. His Travels in Algeria in 1860 (1894) convinced him that the French experiment in colonization was unlikely to succeed, while in Notes From a Pocket Journal of Rambles in Spain in 1860 (1894) he confessed after visiting the art galleries that 'picture seeing is more fatiguing than people think'; but he later gave £25,000 to the art gallery in Adelaide.

Thomas was a member of the Legislative Council in 1863-69 and 1871-78. He attended regularly and his few speeches suggest him as unemotional, conservative, educated, sensible, and, in discussion, short and to the point. His opinion was listened to with respect. He was particularly interested in the waste lands bill of 1866 for which he voted although as a squatter he stood to lose by it, and after 1871 he continually opposed what he considered extravagant government spending.

Thomas bought Birksgate, Glen Osmond, where he built his own gas plant for lighting, grew bananas in his conservatory, made wine from his own garden grapes, created a zoo and built a tower in the grounds from which he could signal to his yachts as they raced in the gulf. When an overseas ship was sighted he fired a cannon and hoisted the Union Jack as his own shipping advisory service. He began to race horses in 1873 and for ten years competed with varying success. When his head trainer died he sold his racers and concentrated on his stud farm at Morphettville which became one of the best in Australia. In 1878 he was appointed K.C.M.G. and in 1887 G.C.M.G. In 1885 he built a house (later Carminow) on Mount Lofty in Scottish baronial style. He died there on 6 March 1897. His estate was sworn at £615,573 and outside South Australia it probably amounted to some £200,000.

His philanthropy is everywhere evident in South Australia, not least at the University of Adelaide. In 1874 he gave £20,000 to endow chairs in mathematics and general science; in 1883-97 he gave £31,000 to the Medical School, £21,000 to the School of Music and £26,000 for general university purposes. His will also included bequests of £10,000 to Presbyterians, £4000 to Anglicans for their cathedral and £4000 to Methodists for their Prince Alfred College. He left £25,000 for the foundation of Working Men's Homes and £16,000 to hospitals. A statue is in Adelaide.

Occupation

• benefactor (general)
• Member of Upper House
• patron of exploration
• wool broker

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elder-sir-thomas-347

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