EDWARD THACKER 1850-1936

Mover and Shaker

Edward Thacker of Miranda was informed on 18 May 1906,  by the Minister for Public Works, of his appointment to the Provisional Council for Sutherland Shire¹. Along with other local identities, John Atkinson of Cronulla, Charles McAlister of Heathcote, William George Judd of Arncliffe and Yowie Bay and Edwin Best of Sutherland, he attended the first meeting in the new School of Arts building at Miranda, on the evening of 16 June 1906.

Edward Thacker arrived in Sydney on 15 January 1878 aboard the Peterborough from London with wife Lucy nee Humberstone. Sadly their infant daughter, Florence died on voyage². In the early 1880s Edward and Lucy had three children, daughter Daisy and sons Edward William and Leslie Herbert. The family settled on the eastern side of Rocky Point Road Kogarah, between President Avenue and Austral Street where Edward established himself as a gardener ³.

The release of land by the Holt-Sutherland Estate Land Company in 1881, allowed Thacker to lease the Blaxland ‘Old Farm’ which was where Jackson Avenue now intersects with the Kingsway Miranda ⁴. As Thacker’s name is not found at the Rocky Point Road address after 1887 it is assumed that about this time he brought his family to Miranda. The area at this time was mostly very rough bush tracks with the main track leading to the punt which crossed the Georges River. Those who settled Miranda established gardens with orchard trees, flowers, and a few grapevines. A number of poultry farms were also successfully established. Other families, such as the Judds built holiday homes or weekenders along the foreshores of the Hacking River.

In 1907 the shire’s rate books record that Edward Thacker had a leasehold of 8 acres 2 roods in Suburban area section 17. It was still owned by Thomas Samuel Holt. This land was bounded by Sylvania Road, The Boulevarde, Manchester Avenue and almost to Bondell Avenue. Here he grew vegetables and some orchard trees. Thacker also leased land of 1 acre 30 perches in Section 13 located where Talara Road is now ⁵.

By 1885 produce bound for the city markets could be transported by rail from Sutherland to Hurstville as a single track railway line had been achieved with the completion of the Como railway bridge. Alternatively produce sent to the city or supplies for the farmers could be transported by horse and cart via the Georges River ferry along the very primitive tracks.

Edward Thacker could see benefits for the small community of farmers if they banded together to reduce individual costs involved in transporting produce and supplies. In 1892 the first community co-operative, the Holt-Sutherland Horticultural Society was formed by Thacker, John MacFarlane, Edward Lye and Anton Berger ⁶. Farmers were able to combine their orders for supplies and save to transportation costs. Under Thacker’s leadership the Society became the Miranda Agricultural Bureau and succeeded in reducing costs to farmers by amalgamating funds. Thacker invested heavily in the early stages of the Bureau’s operations in order to make the scheme viable. The Bureau evolved to become the Miranda Co-operative Society that allowed a discount system for the benefit its members. It was later said towards the end of the First World War, the poultry farmers of the district were in a better position than most in NSW ⁷.

Edward Thacker also pioneered the formation of the Miranda School of Arts for the benefit of the community. In November 1898 it was first housed in a small room of corrugated iron at the back of the Congregational Church on the corner Kiora Road and Urunga Parade. By 1904 Edward Thacker was the president and the membership having reached 80 had outgrown the small room it occupied where books were lent and meetings held. On 3 December 1904 the foundation stone of the new building, on the corner of Kiora Road and The Boulevarde, was laid by the then Premier Joseph Hector Carruthers. Many residents, two parliamentary representatives and the local ministers, the Rev William Marsh of the Congregational Church and the Rev H Dunlop of the Church of England witnessed the event ⁸.

 When Thacker retired from public life a ‘complimentary social and testimonial’ was arranged in his honour and took place appropriately at the Miranda School of Arts on 4 November 1929. A large gathering attended showing the high esteem in which the district’s oldest pioneer was held. Speeches emulating Thacker’s contribution to the Miranda community and the Sutherland Shire were given by local identities, among them Richard Russell chairman of the School of Arts, Councillor Edward Seymour Shaw, Elijah Phillips, John W McFarlane the Shire clerk, Joseph Mondel, Marsh and Sidney Mortlock. Thacker was in his 80th year. He was presented with a gold watch suitably inscribed and Mrs Thacker received a handbag ⁹.

Thacker was also influential in gaining the establishment of a post office at Miranda, removing the toll on the ferry across the Georges River and the reducing the rent on Holt-Sutherland leaseholds with the right to convert to freehold after 25 years ¹⁰. He was also noted among those who advocated Sutherland Shire to be formed in its own right and not as a part of Bulli Shire which was the original intention of the government of the day ¹¹. Thacker was appointed a Member of the Public School Board for the sub-district of Miranda. John McFarlane wrote of Edward Thacker in a letter to Walter Chiplin, headmaster of Miranda Public School ‘the district owes most to the untiring energy and shrewd foresight of Edward Thacker, who deserves all the honour the people care to bestow.’ ¹²

Edward Thacker passed away on 6 November 1936 at his home in Sylvania Road. He was survived by his wife Lucy, daughter Daisy who had married a local lad George Jesson, son Eddie (Edward William) who lived with his wife in the cottage which still stands today on Sylvania Road and son Les (Leslie Herbert) who married and lived in Central Avenue Miranda. Edward was buried in the Methodist section 1 grave 456-457 of Woronora Cemetery. Only four years later Lucy died on 28 January 1940 at the age of 88 and was buried with her husband. George Jesson had died in 1931 and was the first burial in the Thacker family grave. Daisy was also buried here when she died in September 1940.

Leslie Herbert Thacker was elected to Council in a by-election held on 6 May 1919. A vacancy had been created due to the death of Councillor Charles Paine who had died at his residence, Mt Hamilton, Miranda on 6 April 1919 as a result of pneumonic influenza or Spanish flu. Paine was one of many casualties of this pandemic thought to have come to Australia with the return of soldiers who had gallantly fought in the First World War. Thacker served one term of office and was not re-elected to the Council of 1923-25. Leslie Thacker died on 16 January 1957 and was buried in the Presbyterian section 1 of Woronora Cemetery, grave 422 where his wife Henrietta nee Hughes was later buried following her death on 2 May 1978 aged 85.

The Thacker farm was subdivided for residential blocks after Eddie Thacker’s wife, Matilda died in 1974. Provision was made for a road to access the blocks. As there was already a road named Thacker Street running off Sylvania Road but further south, the new road on Thacker’s property became Humberstone Avenue, after Edward’s wife, Lucy nee Humberstone.

SUE HEWITT

First published in  Sutherland Shire, Some Early Residents, 2006, by Botany Bay Family History Society. Compiled by Maree McKinley and Sue Hewitt.   

Click on the name EDWARD THACKER (1850 – 1936) at the heading of this story. You will be taken to the database entry for Edward Thacker and his family.

 Endnotes:

1       St George Call 19 May 1906

2       SRNSW ARK Reel 2140 and 2489

3       Sands Sydney Directory 1886, 1887

4       SSHS Bulletin Feb 2001, The Chosen Five, Daphne Salt

5       Sutherland Shire Rate Books 1907

6       SSHS Bulletin Feb 2001, The Chosen Five, Daphne Salt

7       SCAM 12 Oct 1956

8       Sydney Morning Herald  5 Dec1904

9       SCAM 12 Oct 1956

10     ibid

11     The Propeller 19 Nov 1936

12     Miranda Public School: 100 years 1893-1993, Miranda Public School Committee 1993