View source for Thomas Chirnside

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}}

'''Thomas Chirnside''' (1815–1887) was a pastoralist

==Background==
In 1815, Thomas Chirnside was born to Robert and Mary ({{Nee|Fairs}}) Chirnside in the Scottish village of [[Cockburnspath]].<ref name="adb">{{cite book |last1=Hone |first1=J. Ann |title=Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |chapter=Chirnside, Thomas (1815–1887) |access-date=2015-10-06 |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chirnside-thomas-3203/text4815}}</ref> In the 1820s and the 1830s, thousands of [[Scottish people|Scots]] were spurred on by poverty and famine to try and make a living in [[colonial Australia]]. Scottish [[Squatting (Australian history)|squatters]] and rural workers started farms.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017 |title=Immigration History from Scotland to Victoria |url=https://origins.museumsvictoria.com.au/countries/scotland |access-date=September 23, 2024 |website=Origins |publisher=[[Museums Victoria]]}}</ref> In January 1839, Thomas Chirnside arrived in [[Adelaide]] with a [[Bible]] from his mother and several hundred [[Pound sterling|pounds]] from his father. Thomas had told his parents that he would only return home if he became a rich and respected man, before boarding the {{ship||Bardaster|1833 ship|2}} in [[Liverpool]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hewitson |first=Jim |url=https://archive.org/details/faroffinsunlitpl0000hewi |title=Far Off in Sunlit Places: Stories of the Scots in Australia and New Zealand |publisher=[[Canongate Books]] |year=1998 |isbn=9780862417758 |location=Edinburgh |pages=56{{endash}}57 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Thomas was raising sheep on the [[Murrumbidgee River|Murrumbidgee]] by April, but drought forced him to abandon his flock. He joined his itinerant brother, Andrew, in [[Melbourne, Victoria|Melbourne]],<ref name="adb" /> and the two set about finding a good place to settle.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Aerial perspective of Thomas Chirnside School.jpg|thumb|An aerial view of the Thomas Chirnside School in Werribee, 2018]]

In April 1842, the brothers established a station in the [[Grampians National Park|Grampians]], and that same year Thomas acquired a station on the [[Wannon River]], where he was one of the first to employ [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal People]]. In the mid-1840s the brothers acquired a series of properties in the [[Western District (Victoria)|Western District]] of Victoria.<ref name=adb/>

The elder Chirnside settled in [[Werribee, Victoria]], just before the [[Australian gold rushes|gold rushes]], eventually buying 80,000 acres (320&nbsp;km²) of land. He built a substantial [[Bluestone#Australia|bluestone]] house surrounded by a [[ha ha|ha ha wall]], and later, in the 1870s, the [[sandstone]] [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] [[Werribee Park Mansion]].

On 2 September 1853, he purchased, through a government grant, Section 14, in the Parish of Cut Paw Paw, County of Bourke. The allotment was {{convert|89|acre|ha}}, which is now the Melbourne suburb of [[Kingsville, Victoria|Kingsville]].

From 1857 to 1859, Thomas Chirnside was a member of the [[Philosophical Institute of Victoria]], and of the [[Royal Society of Victoria]] from 1860 to 1866. He was a strict [[Sabbatarian]], allowing no work on his properties on Sundays. He donated an acre (0.4 ha) of land and £100 for the first [[Presbyterian Church of Australia|Presbyterian Church]] in Werribee and, in February 1884, he laid the foundation stone of the second one. He and his brother, Andrew Spencer Chirnside, gave £1000 to [[Ormond College]] at the [[University of Melbourne]].<ref name=adb/>

In 1887, suffering from depression, Thomas Chirnside committed suicide with a shotgun in the garden of the Werribee Park Mansion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sad Death of Mr. Thomas Chirnside |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7922547 |accessdate=2015-10-06 |work=The Argus |date=1887-06-27 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=McCrory |first1=Phil |last2=Kelleher |first2=Tony |url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~queenhs/chirnsides.html |title=The Chirnsides |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031215084637/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~queenhs/chirnsides.html|archivedate=2003-12-15 |accessdate=2024-03-07 }}</ref> Andrew Spencer Chirnside inherited the property, but died three years later.<ref name=adb/>

A primary school in Werribee has been named in Thomas's honour.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Chirnside Primary School |url=http://thomaschirnsideps.vic.edu.au/ |website=thomaschirnsideps.vic.edu.au/ |accessdate=28 May 2019}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Library resources box |wikititle=Thomas Chirnside}}
{{cite web |url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chirnside-thomas-3203/text4815 |title=Chirnside, Thomas (1815–1887) |last=Hone |first=J. Ann |year=1969 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography |publisher= National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |accessdate=19 September 2014}}
Wool Past the Winning Post by Heather B Ronald A History of the Chirnside Family published by Landvale Enterprises 1978

==External links==
* [http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1714744 1874 portrait of Thomas Chirnside by Alexander S. Mackay in the collection of the State Library of Victoria.]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chirnside, Thomas}}
[[Category:1815 births]]
[[Category:1887 deaths]]
[[Category:Colony of New South Wales people]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian farmers]]
[[Category:People from the Colony of Victoria]]
[[Category:Suicides by firearm in Victoria (state)]]