Thomas Sutcliffe Mort
Thomas Mort was born in Lancashire, England. He worked as a clerk before being offered a job in Sydney, which he took as he saw it as an opportunity to restore the family's fortunes.
He arrived in Sydney aboard Suberb in February 1838 and was later followed by his two younger brothers.
Mort worked as a clerk for three years before marrying Theresa Shepheard, two years later he set himself up as an auctioneer in general and wool sales and later expanded to livestock and pastoral property. With his increased prosperity he provided facilities for consignment sales of wool in London, establishing a pattern for later wool-broking forms.
This business developed into Goldsborough Mort, wool-brokers.
In 1855 he built a dry dock at Balmain , sized to accommodate the largest vessels expected to enter the port and in the mid 1860s began to look into refrigeration to allow meat to be safely transported around the country and overseas. He developed a large abattoir at Bowenfels, near Lithgow, where sheep and cattle were slaughtered and refrigerated.
Official Unveiling Photo
Mort died from pneumonia in 1878. At the time of his death he was spoken of as "the greatest benefactor the working classes in this country ever had" and working men in Sydney resolved to show their respect. Their resolve resulted in this statue by Pierce Connolly, which was unveiled in 1883.
This photograph shows the crowd of workers who sacrificed a days pay to attend the unveiling.
References: Alan Barnard, 'Mort, Thomas Sutcliffe (1816 - 1878)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 299-301.