Thomas White Melville Winder, Free Settler "Frederick" 1817

Thomas White Melville WINDER was born c1789 London (please see discussion re parents)

Thomas arrived in Sydney Cove in 1817 on "Frederick"

Thomas had a relationship with Ellen JOHNSTONE (they married in 1848 at Sydney) and they had the following children

• Jessie 1819
• Ellen 1821
• Anne 1822
• Mary 1824
• Agnes 1825
• Fanny 1827
• Thomas 1829

Thomas died 30/9/1853 in NSW,

Thomas was a very early settler in Australia arriving in Port Jackson 24th. Feb. 1817. on the "Frederick His life ecompassed many interests after his early career as a Sea Captain. He was a coal-mine owner, flour miller,general merchant, grazier,ship owner, tallow manufacturer, wheat farmer, cedar exporter- many of these interests were held simultaneously. Before he settled in Australia he had been a trader in the East & West Indies Governor Lachlan Macquarie gave him permissive occupancy of an allotment in Bligh St. Sydney, on which he opened a store. From March 1819 to May 1820 he visited Calcutta.in the following August, with former convict Samuel Terry (The Botany Bay Rothschild he established the Lachlan Flour Mills at Kensington. These two entered later into a partnership with four other(two being former convicts who became men of great means) and the name of the mill was changed to the Lachlan & Waterloo Flour Mills. In 1821 he sought a grant of land from Governor Macquarie and he received 700 acres on the Hunter River In 1823 he was exporting cedar from his estate before he withdrew from his commercial partnerships. He also claimed to have received with his grant a 10year monopoly over all coal won from the Newcastle Penal Settlement, apart from that required for government use. in 1824-25 he acquired 4000 acres near Lochinvar and named his estate Windermere where despite troubles with aborigines ,he became a substantial pastoralist and wheat grower. .He purchased 3 ships for trade between the Hunter region and Sydney, sold them and with convict labour, built the 90 ton, Currency Lass. He soon became one of the largest proprietors on the Hunter and had 10,000 acres of land. He built a beautiful homestead of sandstock brick with assigned convict labour. Over the years he had a large number of convicts assigned to him. He sold Windermere to Wentworth in 1836 and leased it back for some time. In the 1840's he was in partnership with Wiilam Charles Wentworth (the explorer) and Charles Nott and began a successful boiling down works at Windermere.In 1851 he sold the estate to Nott & returned to Sydney. He had played a major part in the development of the Northern Shipping Trade. and was the first to enjoy a monopoly of coal mined in Newcastle. It is believed he planted the first grape vines in the Hunter. In the Maitland Mercury 26th. April 1881 it reported that Thomas was always an elegantly attired gentleman of \the old school. A friend of both Governor Macquarie and his wife, an importer of horse bloodstock from the UK and a kindly, esteemed master to his assigned convicts. SOURCE:Australian Dictionary of Biography

• https://australianroyalty.net.au/individual.php?pid=I69573&ged=purn...
• http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/winder-thomas-white-2808
• https://www.hafs.org.au/winder-family-w/2017/06/04/