Thomas Burbury was born in Chichester, Sussex in 1809, and grew up in Coventry, England, the region where his ancestors had lived for many years.
In 1832, he was involved in a riot in which a factory belonging to one Josiah Beck and housing steam looms was broken into and the looms destroyed. Thomas was one of six people who were arrested as the ringleaders of this riot, and he was sentenced to death by hanging. Appeals for clemency on behalf of the people of Coventry were successful, and his sentence was commuted to transportation to Van Diemen's Land.
After arriving in Van Diemen's Land, he was assigned as a shepherd to a Mr. Thomas Anstey of Anstey Barton in Oatlands. Later he was joined by his wife Mary and young daughter Caroline, who had sailed from England on a later ship.
Soon after Mary's arrival, Thomas was made a Field Constable. Duties involved riding around outlying properties to check on the welfare of settlers and to report on criminal activities such as stock theft.
After gaining a free pardon for assisting in the capture of a band of bushrangers, Thomas set himself up in a butcher's shop in Oatlands. This shop prospered, and he was able to buy land in Oatlands and a grazing property nearby. Before long he held leases on 6,000 acres of land.
In 1851 Thomas bought Inglewood and several neighbouring properties. By the time of his death in 1870, he had become a wealthy and well-respected member of the Oatlands community. His wife Mary continued to live in the "Old Home" in High St. until her death in 1892.
In 1979 a book titled Thomas Burbury - A Pioneer of Van Diemen's Land was published. This book told the story of Thomas Burbury and his family in Australia. This book has now been edited and re-issued in HTML format, and is available for reading on this website.
The "Old Home" in High Street, Oatlands
where Thomas and Mary used to live.
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