GENERATION 2:

George Augustus THORNTON 

born- 1819 (Australia)
died- 1901 (Australia)

marriage- 1840 (Australia)

Mary Ann SOLOMON
born- 1822 (Australia)
died- 1904 (Australia)

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Family History

George was born on Macquarie Street, opposed the hospital to Samuel & Sarah Thornton, another brother for Sarah, Samuel and Margaret. He grew up in the area of The Rocks and Sydney Cove. He was educated at St. Phillip's Primary School, then to Mr. W. T. Cape's seminary in King Street, Sydney. After schoolings, George attended Rev. J.D. Lang's Australian College in Jamieson Street. In 1836, George joined the Customs Department as a storekeeper, then as a clerk.

After gaining the experiences needed, George became a customs and shipping agent in 1840 and then became a merchant. On 4th August 1840, George married Mary Ann Solomon, a daughter of Mr. John Solomon, at St. Phillips' Church of England, Sydney.

He was in the partnership with Walter Church as Customs House agents and shipbrokers in 1850 and owned a schooner called "Tom Tough". He was also a partner of the Tucker & Co. in 1859-63 and 1869, although more details needs to be found.

He was elected as one of the aldermen of Sydney City Council. Then, later, was elected into being a Mayor of Sydney City Council in 1853. When the new Constitution was introduced in 1857, he entered the council again and became the first elected Sydney-born Mayor (under the new Constitution). During his mayoralty, he established the old baths at Woolloomooloo and built the first wooden Pyrmont Bridge across Darling Harbour. From May 1860, George was elected the first chairman of the new Woollahra Council.

 During one of the numerous trips to England, George was on the ship, "Duncan Dunbar" where it was wrecked off Las Rocas, Pernambouc, South America in 1863, along with his wife, George William and daughter, Frances (Fanny). They were rescued among with other survivors on 17th October 1863 and returned to London. No life was lost during the drama and George was awarded with a gold watch and chains by the grateful survivors because he was placed in charge to look after a group and did it well.

From the time when George was appointed to a seat in the Upper House of the Legislative Council in 1877, he carried the Animal Protection Act, and founded the NSW Aborigines Protection Association in 1880. Then on 29th December 1880, George was officially appointed protector of the Aborigines. He carried out a census of the Aborigines with some assistance from Edmund Fosbery, and recommended that those Aborigines living in Sydney should be send back to their own districts. Sir John Robertson, then Premier of NSW, said to Hon. George Thornton (as he was called then) in the 1880's at the Legislative Council with, "Why, you know that you were gutting mackerel on Manly Beach when Captain Phillip arrived".

Long interested in the orthography (a study of native place names given by the native people), George published the "Notes on the Aborigines of NSW" with Richard Hill in 1892. When he was 19 years old, he had several close contact with the local aborigines around the Manly area, and afterwards when he was older that he had a "handsome waterside residence, "Alta Mira" at Manly. The aborigines were camping near his residence on the land known as Little Manly Point. The aborigines, at that time, called it as "Kihitmatta" which meant in their dialect as a sign of sleeping places.

A letter wrote by a man, Mr. E. O. Hanson, from Avalon Beach on 14th September 1939, mentioning that in the early surf days in Sydney, his father was believed to be the pioneer of the surf-bathing (swimming). He also claimed that George Thornton and Mr. Hanson's siblings and himself used to swim off the ocean beach in Manly around 1876.

George saw the first "launch of the first steamer that ever struck the waters of Australia, 'The Surprise'", and made the journey to Parramatta on the occasion of the steamer's trial trip. The steamer did the trip in four hours, which was considered in those days very fast travelling!

George claimed to be the "Guiding light" for the first print of the Sydney Herald on the night of April 1831. Since the paper's proprietors needed the lights for the printing as the printers needed to have the formes (layouts) to be locked in order to print the first pages of the original Sydney Herald, George was a 10 years old boy who was sent across from his father's Inn to the Herald's office with some candles. There he oversaw the first prints of the Sydney Herald with a lighted candle.

As George was an enthusiast in the aquatic sports in his boyhood, he was involved with several yacht and rowing clubs. He was a vice-commodore of the Sydney Yacht Club in 1859, a founding member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in 1862, and a founding president of the Sydney Rowing Club and of the NSW Rowing Association in 1860s.

George bought some land in Parramatta where he built his last house "Lang Syne" at Sorrell Street. There in his house, he died of dysentery (a disease with inflamed glands) on 23rd November 1901.