Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Londonderry, Ireland

Biography

sketcher, modeller, naval officer, surveyor and pastoralist, was born on 29 January 1804 in Londonderry, Ireland, eldest son of Thomas Woore, an army captain, and Catherine Anne, née Darcus. Educated at Foyle College, Londonderry, he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in December 1819 and served on ships along the English coast. After gaining skill as a surveyor, he was offered a post in the hydrography section of the Admiralty. Joining the Zebra in 1829, Woore made his first visit to Sydney. His ink Panorama of Sydney Harbour (Mitchell Library) was apparently executed when the Zebra visited Port Jackson; according to the donor, it originally had 1829 on the top left-hand corner (later torn off). The view, which clearly reveals Woore’s topographical training, is taken from a position inside the Domain near Macquarie Street and looks down the harbour to the Heads. A number of prominent landmarks are included: the Rum Hospital, St James’s Church, the Court House and the Government House Stables, while HMS Zebra and HMS Crocodile are identified in the accompanying key. After serving briefly on board Crocodile , Woore was transferred to the Alligator which operated out of Sydney in 1832. At the end of 1834 Lieutenant Woore resigned from the navy on the grounds of ill-health, married Mary Dickson in the Sydney Scots Church on 1 January 1835, and returned to Britain with her the following month. They came back to New South Wales as settlers in 1839. Thomas acquired Pomeroy Station, near Goulburn, where he built a large stone house on the banks of the Wollondilly River. His watercolour dated 1858 (p.c.) depicts the homestead before the addition of its second storey. Woore soon established himself as a leading pastoralist in the district and was a local magistrate. In the mid 1840s he became deeply involved with the planning and surveying of the local railway line, although he was not paid for this work. In 1861 he contributed a model of a bridge to Sydney’s Exhibition of Natural and Industrial Products of New South Wales. His model bridge and its accompanying 'model of supporting rails’ were sent on to the 1862 London International Exhibition. In January 1875 Woore advertised Pomeroy for sale and moved to Sydney to live with his only daughter, Catherine Anne, who had married the pastoralist and politician William Busby in 1856. Appointed a member of the commission investigating Sydney’s water supply, he lobbied persistently for the construction of a dam at Warragamba and published two pamphlets on his proposed scheme during the 1870s, as well as a critique of the colony’s railway system. On 21 June 1878 Woore died at the Busbys’ home, Redleaf, at Double Bay and was buried in St Jude’s Anglican Cemetery, Randwick. Most of his drawings date from between 1858 and 1877 and are held privately. An album he gave Catherine in 1870 is filled with sepia watercolour and pencil sketches of various residences in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, including Greenoaks, Redleaf and Edgecliff House, as well as such notable country properties as Camden Park and Regentville. A view of Darling Point Road near St Mark’s Church (1867) includes members of the Mort and Woore families; another shows Prince Alfred’s arrival at Sydney in 1868. A second extant album, inscribed 'Thomas Woore Pomeroy, Woores’ on the fly-leaf, contains ten drawings, most dating from the early 1870s such as The City of Goulburn New South Wales (1870), Christmas Tree in the Hall Pomeroy (1871) and several views of Government House, Sydney. Redleaf. Double Bay , drawn on 17 February 1877 is his last known work. He normally inscribed his drawings with title and date but few are signed. A competent amateur, Woore appears to have painted purely for pleasure, confining himself to the depiction of his immediate environs. Surviving works therefore have considerable documentary importance, being a detailed record of one man’s social contacts, travels and interests during the late colonial period in New South Wales. The numerous houses he sketched are of particular interest to architectural historians. Writers: McDonald, Patricia R. Date written: 1992 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 29 January 1804

Summary

Thomas Woore was a sketcher, modeller, naval officer, surveyor and pastoralist. He visited Sydney for the first time in 1829. Woore's sketches of houses are of particular interest to architectural historians.

Gender

Male

Died

21 June 1878

Age at death

74