Moore, Thomas Bather   (1850 - 1919)

Born in New Norfolk, Tasmania, on 26 November 1850, died in Queenstown, Tasmania, on 14 August 1919.

He was the fourth child of John Anthony Moore, surgeon from Northumberland, England, and his wife Martha Anne, née Read, of New Norfolk.

After elementary schooling in the colony, Moore completed his education at Windermere College in the English Lake District under the guardianship of an uncle. He returned to Tasmania in 1868.

In 1873 Moore participated in a tin-mining venture in Victoria and next year commenced his exploration of Tasmania's west coast by examining the area south of Mount Bischoff for tin and gold. He followed this with eighteen months in New South Wales and some time in north-east Tasmania.

On 9 January 1889 at the Church of All Saints, Hobart, Moore married Jane Mary Solly. They settled at Strahan where Moore became inspector of roads and works for the west coast. Unable to conform to the constraints of bureaucracy, however, he resigned in 1891 to resume prospecting and track-cutting.

His tracks were legendary routes through parts of the South West Wilderness, as well as the West Coast Range. He had been considered one of the most experienced of Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company's track cutters.

Over the course of his life he had been a prospector, track cutter, botanist, geographer and geologist - all mainly in West Coast of Tasmania.

He was later appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

He collected in western Tasmania from 1868; visited Temora, New South Wales (1880), Victoria (1882-1883) and Sydney and Brisbane (1885). Sent specimens to Rodway. His bryophyte collections in HO, from the west coast of Tasmania, date from 1897 to 1907. The R.G.Brett Eucalypt collection in HO (duplicates in MEL) apparently passed through his hands.

Source: Extracted from:
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/moore-thomas-bather-7642
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._B._Moore
A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS.
Portrait Photo:
www.reddit.com/r/ThylacineScience/comments/dfpl17/thomas_bather_moore_wearing_a_cap_made_from_the/

Collecting localities for 'Moore, T.B.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 281 specimens