George Thorn (1806-1876), soldier, businessman and politician, and George Henry Thorn (1840-1905), politician, were father and son. George was born on 11 April 1806 near Stockbridge, Hampshire, England, son of Simon Thorn, farmer, and his wife Elizabeth. A colour-sergeant, he arrived in Australia with the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment in 1832. He served Governor Richard Bourke as an orderly, joined a detachment for service in Port Phillip in 1836, entered the Town Survey Department and was on the governor’s staff at the first survey of Melbourne in March 1837. In June when his regiment left for India he bought his discharge, joined the Commissariat Department and on 2 November in Sydney he married the seventeen-year-old Jane Handcock.

In 1838 Thorn was sent to Moreton Bay and, on 20 July 1839 with salary of £60 and quarters, was put in charge of the Limestone Hill penal settlement with control of all government stock. He resigned when the establishment closed in 1839, kept the Queen’s Arms Hotel and in 1847 sold it and set up a store. His purchase of Ipswich town lots at the first sale in 1843 began an accumulation of land that included Rosebrook, Nukienda and Warra Warra stations totalling 58,000 acres (23,472 ha), and allotments in Toowoomba, Moggill and Cleveland. In 1859-60 he returned briefly to England.

Thorn was a member for West Moreton in 1860-63 in the Legislative Assembly. His main interest was in Ipswich, where he was an alderman in 1862-65 and helped establish the Anglican church, School of Arts, hospital, Grammar School, Botanic Gardens, North Australian Club, racing club and the Queensland Pastoral and Agricultural Society. When he died on 28 April 1876 he left a reputation for ‘larky humour’, thoroughness and integrity. Of his nine surviving children, Henry, John and William represented Dalby, Fassifern and Aubigny respectively in the Legislative Assembly, while Jane married the merchant George Harris and became grandmother to Governor-General Lord Casey.

The Thorn – Harris Marriage announcement was sourced from The Australian Newspapers service. This site allows access to historic Australian newspapers digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program.