Talk:Tom Wills/Comments

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It has been interesting to read this section as it illustrates how much people get wrong, my comments are based on the original family documents which I hold.

Nobody, including the family, knows for certain where Tom was born.

At the time of his birth the family was settled at a station called Burra Burra which was about ten miles from the current site of Queanbeyan, the family papers contain a map of this place.

The issue is that there are two references to Toms birth in the NSW archives, one showing 1835 and one showing 1836.

The birthdate is correct at August 19th and he was baptised in January 1837 according to the church records.

There are two possibilities:- 1. That he was born at Burra Burra and the family waited for more than a year to bring him to Sydney to be baptised in 1837, possible but unlikely as in those days it was normal to baptise children quickly in case the died in infancy 2. That he was born in or near Sydney in 1836 and baptised at about 4 months. If this is the case then the most likely place of birth would be Thomas Wills property near Parramatta or the Antills place at Picton. These two are the brother and sister of Horatio Wills. Tom's mother was married at Parramatta in 1833. She was from the orphan school (with her sister Catherine, later Mrs Roope) and she had no family with any property so it would have to be one of Horatio's family.

My own view, and all of the family papers are in my possesion, is that the second scenario is the most likely.

As to the veracity of much of the other content I agree that much of it is rubbish. Horatio's mother had, in total, 4 boys and 5 girls Thomas, Cedric, Horace and Egbert (the boys) and Emily, Elizabeth, Eugene, Minna and Hortense (the girls). She lost none of her children in infancy.

The first edition of my book "The Currency Lad" 286 pages plus illustrations, notes, bibliography and a copy of Horatio's will has several factual errors (Tom's birthdate in the chapter heading being one) which have been corrected in the second edition.

It is available from the National Library and the State libraries of NSW, Vic and Qld.

T S Wills Cooke tandems@bigpond.com