Thomas Webber Moore

e - thomas webber and louisa moore

• Death Notes
  • 
    Died at Nowhere Creek.
    

• General Notes
  • 
    Born in Luppitt, Honiton, Devonshire, England on 30 March 1822.
    Baptised at Luppitt Church (Luppitt is a village 4 miles north of Honiton) on 16 January 1823.
    Thomas Webber Moore grew up on his parents farm "Smithenhayes".
    Bev Moore has a picture (see the "Farm In Luppitt" photo in the Pictures section of this entry) which is supposed to be of Smithenhayes Farm and showing the room on the upper floor (far right hand room in the photo) where Thomas Fraunceis Moore was born - however the picture turns out to be of Holyshute House in Honiton, Devon from c.1880 (as confirmed by Trevor Hitchcock of Honiton Museum).
    
    Thomas Webber Moore from Devon, married Louisa Matilda Percy (Pursey) in 1848 and they migrated to Long Island, America in c.1851 - like Louisa's 2 sisters and 1 brother.
    They then came to Australia - landing at Port Phillip in 1853 to try their luck in the gold rush.
    They brought their young son Thomas Fraunceis Moore with them - he had been born in England, then travelled with them to America but grew up in Australia.
    
    Thomas Webber Moore and family sailed from Long Island, USA to Melbourne in 1853.  An entry in the 1865 PRO Index shows that T. W. Moore arrived in Melbourne on board the "Euphrasia" in August 1853.  Note that family legend states that he arrived on the "Medora".
    
    They first settled in Ballarat, Victoria, and were present during the gold rush which had started there in 1851.
    
    During their time on the goldfields they were often set upon by thieves and bushrangers, but Mr. and Mrs. Moore had secure hiding places for their valuables, including gold - Mr. Moore had a secret cavity in the wheel of their buggy, and Mrs. Moore would put valuables in her show then leave it out  with their camp garbage.  In this way they kept their valuables safe.
    Once Mr. Moore was riding to Melbourne when he was set upon by 2 bushrangers near Mansfield.  They pursued him for many miles on horseback, but he eventually outrode them.
    
    They tried their luck at a number of goldfields, including Linton, Armstrong, Glendhu then Glenpatrick.
    By this time they had quite a large family and amassed sufficient funds from gold prospecting.
    So they settled near to the Glenpatrick Valley, in an adjacent fertile valley called Nowhere Creek Valley (Nowhere Creek was a tributary of the Wimmera River).
    
    So in 1867 the family moved to land at Nowhere Creek at Elmhurst, Victoria, and had sufficient funds to buy a substantial property there, which they called "Deer Park" in memory of Louisa's father.
    
    At Deer Park, Mr. Moore built a substantial homestead, and planted a vineyard and an orchard.
    
    For some years while the Deer Park property was being properly established, Mr. Moore was often absent for long periods, working in mining.  For a time he managed a gold mine in Glendhu, and later he was involved with a goldmine at Wood... with Mr. Digby.
    
    According to a story written by Louisa E. Gillies (nee Moore) - grand-daughter of Thomas Webber Moore "When Mr. Moore died he was buried beside her (Louisa Matilda). 
    The following inscription is on their gravestone:  In loving memory of our beloved father Thomas Webber Moore who died on February 10 1901, aged 79 years.
    Also of our dear mother Louisa Matilda Moore niece of Esquire Gwyn of Dorset, who died 29 Jan 1888, aged 70 years."
    Louisa Gillies goes on "Both Mr. and Mrs. Moore had hoped to return to England with family and fortune - but it was not to be.  When his wife died Mr. Moore did return to England, meaning to live out the rest of his life in his beloved homeland.  But finding everything so changed after his long years of absence, he soon returned to Australia, the raw new land that had adopted him against his will.
    He said that the harshness of its (England's) cold winter was unbearable after Australian warmth and sunshine.
    Such is the story of two  of the early pioneers, who came to Australia seeking to take what they could from it, but were taken instead by it - and kept."
    
    Surmise - Perhaps Mr. Moore's family was originally from Glamorgan, Wales??
    
    Note there is a record of a Moore-Gwyn family in Dyffryn, Glamorgan, Wales (from records kept 1667 to 1980).
    There is also a Moore family from Newton, Somerset (recorded in the 1600's to 1700's).
    See the National Register of Archives website:
    www.nra.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
    

Wife's Pictures

e - thomas webber and louisa moore