Thomas Walker | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | |
| In office 1 June 1843 –31 July 1845 | |
| Constituency | Port Phillip |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 May 1804 Leith,Scotland |
| Died | 2 September 1886 Concord West,New South Wales |
| Resting place | St John's,Ashfield |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Jane Hart (m. 1860) |
| Children | Dame Eadith Walker |
| Residence | Yaralla Estate |
Thomas Walker (3 May 1804 –2 September 1886) was a New South Wales colonial politician,merchant banker and philanthropist. At the time of his death,he was one of the wealthiest and most influential colonialists in New South Wales.
He was the father of Dame Eadith Walker and founder of Yaralla Estate. The Thomas Walker Hospital was named in his honor.
Thomas Walker was born at Leith,Scotland,in 1804,and came to Sydney as a young man. About the year 1822 he joined the firm of Riley and Walker, [1] general merchants,the senior partner of which was his uncle. Some years later he acquired this business in partnership with a cousin,and carried it on successfully. He was made a magistrate in 1835. In 1837,he visited Port Phillip district.[ citation needed ]
In 1843,he was elected one of the representatives of the Electoral district of Port Phillip in the first partially elected New South Wales Legislative Council, [2] and in January 1845 he was one of the six members of the council who signed a petition praying that Port Phillip should be made into a separate colony. Walker,however,gave up taking an active part in politics,though he kept his interest in them and published some pamphlets on the land question. His financial affairs prospered,and he invested widely. His special interest was the Bank of New South Wales,of which he was president for many years before his death. The statement that he was one of the original founders of the bank is not correct,but his uncle was one of the early shareholders. Walker was a conscientious,benevolent man who went about doing good. He took a personal interest in his benefactions,and at one period employed an agent,searching out and relieving cases of distress and yet most of his benevolent activity was impersonal and detached. [3] In 1882,just before taking a trip to Europe,he distributed £10,000 among benevolent institutions.
He married Jane Steel Hart on 25 July 1860,when he was 56 and she was 28 years old. There was one child of the marriage,Eadith. Jane died on 26 January 1870 and was buried at St John's Ashfield. [1]
In 1876,he funded a parcel of land in Ashfield to provide a new residence for the Sydney Foundling Hospital [4] l,(Now The Infants' Home Child and Family Services).
Walker died in 1886 in Concord,New South Wales,and was buried in the cemetery at St John's Ashfield, [5] He left a large fortune,and was survived by his daughter Eadith.
Under a codicil in Walker's will,£100,000 was set aside to found the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital in the Sydney suburb of Concord West. The hospital was duly designed by Sir John Sulman in the Federation Free Classical style [6] and built in 1893. In its first 20 years nearly 18,000 convalescent patients,all non-paying,received the benefit of this hospital. In the early 1900s,author Henry Lawson was several times a patient there,treated for his alcoholism.
After the death of Dame Eadith Walker 51 years later,two-thirds of the income from £300,000 of his estate was set aside for the upkeep of this hospital. Another £100,000 was used to found the Dame Eadith Walker Convalescent Hospital,which was established in the family home,the Victorian Italianate mansion Yaralla,on the banks of the Parramatta River. One-third of the income from another sum of £300,000 was set aside for its maintenance. The remaining two-thirds of the income was appropriated for the upkeep of the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital and the cottages built by Dame Eadith Walker. She had devoted her life to philanthropy,making the poor and distressed her special concern. She supplemented her father's endowment of his hospital,gave liberally to other hospitals,and worked on many committees.
The Thomas Walker Hospital is now known as Rivendell Child,Adolescent and Family Unit and specialises in the treatment of young people with problems. Yaralla Estate still survives as the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital. Both hospitals are listed on the Register of the National Estate. [7]
The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of 5.1 metres (17 ft), the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Secondary tributaries include the smaller Lane Cove and Duck rivers.

The Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS) is a sporting association of boys' schools in New South Wales, Australia that contest sporting events among themselves. The AAGPS was formed on 30 March 1892, and today has nine members – eight Sydney schools and one northern NSW country school. The descriptor 'Public School' references the historical usage of the term and the model of the British public school; all except Sydney Boys High School are in modern parlance private schools.

Concord Repatriation General Hospital, commonly referred to as Concord Hospital, is a district general hospital in Sydney, Australia, on Hospital Road in Concord. It is a teaching hospital of Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, where it is referred to as Concord Clinical School, and a major facility in the Sydney Local Health District and the former Sydney South West Area Health Service. The NSW Statewide Severe Burn Injury Service and the Bernie Banton Centre, an asbestos diseases research institute, are located there.
Concord is a suburb in the inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Concord West is a separate suburb, to the north-west.
Concord West is a suburb in Sydney's inner-west, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Concord is a separate suburb, to the east.
Dame Eadith Campbell Walker was an Australian heiress and philanthropist.
St John the Baptist Anglican Church is an active Anglican church located between Alt and Bland Streets, Ashfield, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1840, on land donated by Elizabeth Underwood, the church building is the oldest authenticated surviving building in Ashfield, having been built at the time when subdivision increased the population density sufficiently to turn Ashfield into a town. It was also the first church built along the Parramatta Road which linked the early colonial towns of Sydney and Parramatta. The earliest remaining parts of the building are one of the first Sydney designs by the colonial architect Edmund Blacket, who later became renowned for his ecclesiastical architecture.
Sir John Sulman was an Australian architect. Born in Greenwich, England, he emigrated to Sydney in 1885. From 1921 to 1924 he was chairman of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee and influenced the development of Canberra.
William Wyatt was an early settler and philanthropist in South Australia. He was the third interim Protector of Aborigines in the colony between 1837 and 1839, worked on documenting the Kaurna language of the local Australian Aboriginal inhabitants of Adelaide and was a member of many boards, involved with fields as diverse as education, medicine and horticulture.
Sir Arthur Renwick was an Australian physician, politician and philanthropist.
James Thomas Walker was an Australian banker and politician. He served as a Senator for New South Wales from 1901 to 1913.
Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit is a mental health facility specialising in the problems of young people. It is located at Hospital Road, Concord West, New South Wales, Australia. The facility is housed in the former Thomas Walker Hospital, which is listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register.
The Concord Foreshore Trail is a walking track in the inner-west of Sydney, Australia.
The Yaralla Estate, also known as the Dame Eadith Walker Estate and now home to the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital, is a heritage-listed hospital at The Drive, Concord West, City of Canada Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
John Hay Goodlet was a Scottish-born Australian timber merchant and philanthropist.
The Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital Buildings are a heritage-listed complex which formed the former Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital, located at Hospital Road, Concord West, City of Canada Bay, New South Wales, Australia. The site is now used for the Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit. The buildings were designed by Sir John Sulman and built from 1890 to 1893 by Alexander M. Allen. It includes the former Joanna Walker Convalescent Hospital. The property is owned by the New South Wales Department of Health. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Graythwaite is a heritage-listed former private home and former hospital and now school administration building located at 20 Edward Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Goold and Hilling and Edmund Blacket and built from 1858 to 1885 by Aaron Loveridge. The property is owned by the Sydney Church of England Grammar School. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 November 2002.
The Randwick Presbyterian Church is a heritage-listed Presbyterian church located at 162 Alison Road in the Sydney suburb of Randwick in the City of Randwick local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The church was designed by Sir John Sulman and built from 1889 to 1890 by George Gale. The property is owned by the Randwick Presbyterian Church and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 8 May 2008.
The Infants' Home Child and Family Services was established in Sydney, Australia in 1874 as a refuge for unwed mothers and their babies and evolving over time to a current provider of early childhood education and health services.
Florence Sulman was an English-Australian author and educationalist.