Thomas Watson Hogg

Thomas was born at Traquhair, Peebleshire, Scotland in the summer of 1879. During the 1890s his family had moved from the Scottish Lowlands to the outskirts of the industrial city of Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northumberland, England. Instead of continuing as a shepherd, Thomas’ father became a miner. It was that career path which Thomas also chose.

From all accounts he seemed to be always on the lookout for an opportunity, leaving his family for years at a time to try to make a go of living and working somewhere else. America and even Australia.

In 1914 at the beginning of World War One he appears to emigrate alone to Australia. He didn’t stay very long before returning to Europe and finding his way back to Northumberland to enlist. Miners were well respected in the Army for their tunnelling skills. At the end of the war, he applied for repatriation to Australia stating (wrongly or rightly) that he had been resident there for three years prior to the war.

Settling in the Illawarra at Wollongong he became a bricklayer. I imagine there would have been a lot of work around at that time as homes were being built for returning soldiers. In 1926 Thomas was forty-seven, his family had grown since arriving in Australia and the youngest children were aged two and six years. They were living in Five Islands Road, Unanderra near (or with) their eldest son and his new bride.