Thomas Dowse
ca. 1809 — 9 November 1885
Thomas Dowse (13‑58‑22)
In September 1824 15-year-old Thomas was tried for theft at the Old Bailey and sentenced to death, later commuted to transportation for life. Initially incarcerated on the prison hulks Bellerophon and Euryalus, he embarked on the convict ship Florentia bringing him to Port Jackson arriving in January 1828. He served eight years before receiving a ticket of leave in 1836 and a conditional pardon in 1839.
He came to Moreton Bay in 1842 when it was opened to free settlers and was the anonymous Brisbane correspondent to the Sydney Morning Herald. He was a prolific writer with columns in the Moreton Bay Courier, Brisbane Courier and The Queenslander written under the pseudonym 'Old Tom'.
Thomas Dowse Brisbane Town Clerk 1862-1868 — State Library of Queensland.