Thomas Whitley

Thomas Whitley was born in 1830 in Holborn, London, the son of William Whitley (1795-1854) and Harriet Gocher (1791-1870). William Whitley was a master tailor, and Thomas trained as a tailor.

Thomas Whitley emigrated to Australia in 1853 on the ship Resolute and ventured to the Ovens goldfields in Victoria before settling in Raymond Terrace in 1855 where he worked in partnership with William Aitchison (Aitchison & Whitley, Tailors & Drapers).

In 1857 he set off for Sydney where he and Russell Burgis set up a tailoring business, Burgis and Whitley, at 257 Pitt Street. On the dissolution of the partnership, he set up his own business, Whitley & Co., in George Street. The two men served in the NSW Volunteer Rifles during the early 1860s.

In 1886 Whitley retired to Blackheath where he became an active member of the community, and an expert on the history of the Blue Mountains, publishing articles in the local press, and in the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society. He also transcribed some poetry by the Irish convict poet, Francis MacNamara, ‘Frank the Poet’ which appears in Random reminiscences...

He was a keen collector of books on Australiana which he was forced to sell to Angus and Robertson in 1893, possibly via his friend, George Robertson (1860-1933), during the bank crisis. The rarer and more valuable ones were then acquired by David Scott Mitchell of Mitchell Library fame. Whitley also collected English woodcuts which he bequeathed to the Mitchell Library. His brother, George (1829-1874) was a wood engraver.

Thomas Whitley died on 30 December 1911 at his home, "Upwick", in Blackheath and is buried in the Blackheath Cemetery, as is his sister, Sarah Harriet Whitley (1834-1915).

Whitley Park in Blackheath was named after Thomas Whitley.