Thomas Magarey

Thomas Magarey was an Irish-born miller and pastoralist who, with his brother James, migrated to Nelson, New Zealand in 1842, and to Adelaide, South Australia in 1845. He was also one of the Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1860–1862 for West Torrens, and one of the South Australian Legislative Council 1865–1867. He was intensely religious, setting up the first Church of Christ in Australia by 1849, and later joined the Plymouth Brethren, being interested in their writings since 1873.

Life

Magarey was born in County Down, Ireland. He married Elizabeth Verco on 13 March 1848, first living at Noarlunga, then moving to Hindmarsh in 1849 where, with his brother James, he purchased the Hindmarsh flour-mill from John Ridley. In the 1850s he moved to Enfield. Elizabeth and Thomas had 10 children and many grandchildren. In 1880 he joined the Plymouth Brethren, leaving the Church of Christ. He was very public spirited "At quite an early stage of his life he had embarked on a project of acquiring blocks of land in the country, and renting them to struggling farmers, to whom he would give the right of purchase. Over the years he had the satisfaction of seeing a number of poor men become comparatively well-off landowners through their application and industry". In 1876 he contributed 100 guineas to help found the Adelaide Children's Hospital. In 1890 Magarey donated a fire engine to the Hindmarsh Volunteer Fire Brigade. He died at his farm in Enfield on 31 August 1902.

Family

Thomas Magarey married Elizabeth Verco on 13 March 1848.

Alexander Thomas Magarey was a foundation member of the Geographical Society of SA and a member of the Calvert expedition in which Wells and Jones died. He married Virginia Campbell of Bethany, West Virginia, USA.
Dr Sylvanus James Magarey sat in the Legislative Council for the Central district from May 1888 to April 1897. He was a noted surgeon with close connections to the Adelaide Children's Hospital, and religious teetotaller; one of the founders of the Church of Christ in Australia.
Jane Ashley Magarey
Bertha Verco Magarey married William Norman in 1880
James William Magarey married Helen Mary Attiwill on 23 April 1879.
Thomas Charles Alfred Magarey
Elizabeth Philippa Magarey married John Winder on 4 December 1912, lived at Strathfield, New South Wales
Dr Cromwell Magarey was one of the first four graduates of the Adelaide Medical School and father of Dr Ivan S. Magarey,
Ellen Lucy Magarey married Charles Sidney Scutt in 1903.

His brother James Magarey ran Gannawarra Station on Gunbower Creek, later owned a flour mill in Hindmarsh, South Australia, then moved to "Laurel Bank Villa", Geelong, Victoria. He drowned following the wreck of the. His son, William James Magarey, worked on the station, moved to Geelong with his father; owned flour mills at Hindmarsh and Port Pirie, and sat in the House of Assembly seat of West Torrens from April 1878 to March 1881.
His great nephew was lawyer and sportsman William Ashley Magarey who created the Magarey Medal, an annual award for the best and fairest player in the Australian Rules competition in South Australia.