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Thomas Raine
Details
Date of Birth21 June 1793
Date of Death6 June 1860OccupationSea captainMerchantPlace of ResidenceFrederick's Valley, NSWSpouseFrances Eleanor (Fanny) WorsleyChildEdmond William Worsley RaineFrances Mary Anne (Fanny) RaineMargaret RaineThalia Mary RaineBathurst James RaineElinor Wentworth RaineEmily Shrubsole RaineCaroline Hollingworth (Carry) RaineElizabeth Richardson (Lizzie) RaineThomas Arthur Park RaineParentRichard RaineMary BeattyBiographyThomas Raine was born in Hexham, England, on 21 June 1793, the son of Richard Raine, a barrister, and his wife Mary (née Beatty). The youngest of seven children, Thomas was educated at Westminster School in London. He joined the merchant marine and, in February 1814, sailed to Australia as a junior officer aboard the convict transport Surry. During the voyage a deadly typhus epidemic claimed the lives of many convicts and most of the crew. At just 20 years of age, Raine became the only surviving officer and took command of the ship.
When the Surry arrived in Port Jackson on 27 July 1814, Raine set about erecting tents on the shore and placing survivors under quarantine. When authorities refused to allow the deceased to be buried on public ground early settler, James Milson, granted Raine permission to bury the first officer (Peter Crawford), the surgeon (John Brooks) and crew member William Peterson on his land at Milsons Point. [Interestingly, the headstones were later recovered during excavations for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge].
In 1815 the now Captain Raine was commissioned by Governor Macquarie to sail the Surry back to England via China. Raine navigated the perilous and unchartered waters of the Great Barrier Reef, often using a sounding line to determine the depth. He was the first European to set foot on what became known as Raine Island and Raine Passage is also named in his honour. A beacon was erected on the island in 1844 to facilitate navigation.
Early in 1819 Raine fitted out the Surry for whaling and set out for Macquarie Island, where he secured five hundred tons of sea elephant oil.
In March 1820 Raine captained the Surry from England to Port Jackson, arriving seven months later to find the colony on the brink of starvation due to crop failures. In December he set sail for Chile to secure a cargo of wheat to alleviate the situation. Shortly before departure from Valparaiso in February 1821 Raine learnt that an American whaling vessel – Essex - had been sunk by a whale mid-ocean, causing the death of most of the crew. There were reportedly three survivors stranded on the uninhabited Ducie Island, a small atoll in the Pitcairn Islands. Raine set out for Ducie, only to find the island deserted. He proceeded to nearby Henderson Island where, on 9 April, he rescued Thomas Chappel, Seth Weeks and William Wright. The men had been there since December 1820, and by then were close to death. Raine transported them to Australia, and they later made their way back to England and the United States. The story of the Essex tragedy inspired Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
Two days after the rescue, on 11 April 1821, Raine records his arrival at Pitcairn Island and his meeting with the descendants of the Bounty mutineers:
They are quite naked, excepting a covering entwined with so much neatness around their middle, that the most delicate eye could not be offended.
The following day he provides an early description of surfing:
"They have pieces of wood, somewhat resembling a butcher’s tray, but round at one end and square at the other, and having on the bottom a small keel; with this they swim off to the rocks at the entrance, getting on which they wait for heavy surf, and, just as it breaks, jump off with the piece of wood under them, and thus, with their heads before the surf, they rush in with amazing rapidity… They steer themselves with their feet, which they move very quickly."
Meanwhile, Governor Macquarie, fearing that the Surry with her shipment of wheat would not arrive in time to avert disaster, purchased wheat from Van Diemen’s Land. When the Surry did arrive – in June - its cargo was forced on the market at great loss to Raine.
In September 1821 Raine was preparing to return to Macquarie Island, when he received a letter from the merchant Edward Wollstonecraft. Impressed by Raine’s account of Pitcairn Island, Wollstonecraft suggested he report on Macquarie Island’s geographical, geological, zoological, botanical and meteorological features. Raine’s detailed report and observations were published in the journal of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society in 1824.
Between 1814 and 1834 Captain Raine transported five shiploads of convicts to Australia on the Surry. His humane treatment of the convicts earned him praise from Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who entrusted Raine to return him and his family to England in following his retirement. The Macquaries embarked in Sydney on 15 February 1822. Among the animals they transported were a horse – Sultan, a cow – Fortune, seven kangaroos, seven emus and two cockatoos.
Upon his return in 1823 Raine partnered with surgeon of the Surry, Dr David Ramsay, to establish the Mercantile House of Raine & Ramsay, one of Sydney’s earliest merchant and shipping firms, located in Pitt Street. The business traded wool, timber, pork, coconut oil, sugar, spices, and rum across the Pacific and Indian oceans. In July 1823 the Surry transported Australia’s first shipment of cedar to England.
Now established as a merchant, Raine became increasingly involved in the colony’s affairs. He was elected a director of both the Sydney & Van Diemen’s Land Packet Company and the Bank of New South Wales. A prominent supporter of Sydney’s benevolent and sporting institutions, Raine was also a member of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Turf Club. An active Presbyterian, he was a founder of Scots Church in 1824. In April 1825 Governor Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane granted Raine a 2,000-acre block on the Fish River near Bathurst, which he named Raineville.
On 6 April 1826 Thomas married Frances Eleanor (Fanny) Worsley at St James Church. Fanny and Thomas had ten children—three sons and seven daughters.
In 1827 Raine turned his attention to New Zealand. He traded extensively with the Maori population, exported flax and established a shipyard at Hokianga River in the North Island.
In 1828 Thomas founded Australia’s first shore-based whaling station at Twofold Bay. He also purchased the Darling Mills at Parramatta, offering a range of products, from foodstuffs and clothing to lamp oil and building materials.
Economic downturn in the colony saw a significant tightening of credit, placing the Raine & Ramsey partnership under great financial pressure. The partnership dissolved in 1828, and in 1829 Raine was declared bankrupt.
Undeterred, Raine relocated his family to his Bathurst landholdings - Raineville. By 1832, he had become a pioneer of wheat and dairy farming, enabling him to gradually settle his debts. He extended his land holdings and commissioned the two-storey Georgian homestead Rainham, one of the first brick houses in the Bathurst district. Rainham’s garden featured willow trees (Salix babylonica) grown from cuttings Thomas had brought from Napoleon’s gravesite on St Helena – reportedly the first introduced into the colony.
When Captain Raine established Boree Station in the 1830s it was considered “beyond the bounds of civilised settlement.” The Boree run was virtually limitless, extending as far west as shepherds cared to go. It extended east to Mount Canobolas and included Boree, Cabonne and Borenore. The permanent springs on the north-western slopes of Canobolas became known as “Captain Raine’s Springs. On 13 March 1835 Major-General Mitchell and Richard Cunningham departed from Boree Station on their expedition to the Darling River.
In 1838 Thomas sold Raineville and moved to land at Frederick’s Valley held by his good friend William Charles Wentworth. There he continued farming, growing maize, running a dairy and cheese factory. In about 1842 Raine erected the first windmill west of Bathurst – The Phoenix – which ground both wheat and corn. The machinery for the mill was transported from Sydney, apparently some of the earliest machinery to cross The Blue Mountains. The mill was later converted to steam, due primarily to the want of wind.
Few public records remain of the time the Raine family spent at Frederick’s Valley. By all accounts Mrs Raine was a woman of great beauty. According to Thomas’ great granddaughter and biographer Margaret de Salis, an artist had requested that she pose as the Virgin Mary, but Thomas refused to allow her to do so. Ms de Salis adds that a Bathurst resident declared “Captain Raine was the man who has the seven lovely daughters. His daughters were the most lovely women I have ever seen.”
Captain Raine’s personal diary provides an insight into daily life in the valley, including a harrowing account of when an epidemic of scarlet fever ravaged the district in 1851. Five of his children contracted the disease, two of them dying.
"15 April: Lizzy very ill. Dr Favell and Dr Bell [came] at 9am, gave her up, but by paying unremitting attention towards noon she rallied. They gave her stimulants, weak Brandy and Water, and got her to take some chicken Broth. Elinor very ill and very precarious. Emily also very bad, shaved her head and put some leeches on her head, still continues very ill. Caroline much better."
The scarlet fever epidemic coincided with the discovery of gold in Frederick’s Valley, just three months after Hargraves and Lister found gold at Ophir. In May 1851 Raine reported finding traces of gold on Wentworth's land, and by August “The Wentworth Diggings” (later Lucknow) had become a hive of prospecting activity.
Few details are known about Thomas’ final years. Overcome by increasing financial difficulties and in failing health, he retired to Sydney, dying at his home in Paddington on 6 June 1860, aged 66, the cause of death being influenza. He is buried in Camperdown Cemetery. Fanny outlived her husband by 16 years. She died on 10 February 1876 at her daughter Thalia’s home, Rosemount, in Ashfield. She is buried alongside Thomas.
Captain Thomas Raine was a well-known and highly esteemed figure in colonial times. Descriptions of him abound. They include “a dashing and daring seaman”, “a swashbuckling buccaneer”, “a charismatic man of vision driven by liberal and humanitarian principles”, “a most enterprising colonist, and one of the most indefatigable merchants of whom the Colony can boast.”
In 1883 Thomas Raine’s grandson Tom founded the company Raine and Horne.
Date of Death6 June 1860OccupationSea captainMerchantPlace of ResidenceFrederick's Valley, NSWSpouseFrances Eleanor (Fanny) WorsleyChildEdmond William Worsley RaineFrances Mary Anne (Fanny) RaineMargaret RaineThalia Mary RaineBathurst James RaineElinor Wentworth RaineEmily Shrubsole RaineCaroline Hollingworth (Carry) RaineElizabeth Richardson (Lizzie) RaineThomas Arthur Park RaineParentRichard RaineMary BeattyBiographyThomas Raine was born in Hexham, England, on 21 June 1793, the son of Richard Raine, a barrister, and his wife Mary (née Beatty). The youngest of seven children, Thomas was educated at Westminster School in London. He joined the merchant marine and, in February 1814, sailed to Australia as a junior officer aboard the convict transport Surry. During the voyage a deadly typhus epidemic claimed the lives of many convicts and most of the crew. At just 20 years of age, Raine became the only surviving officer and took command of the ship.When the Surry arrived in Port Jackson on 27 July 1814, Raine set about erecting tents on the shore and placing survivors under quarantine. When authorities refused to allow the deceased to be buried on public ground early settler, James Milson, granted Raine permission to bury the first officer (Peter Crawford), the surgeon (John Brooks) and crew member William Peterson on his land at Milsons Point. [Interestingly, the headstones were later recovered during excavations for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge].
In 1815 the now Captain Raine was commissioned by Governor Macquarie to sail the Surry back to England via China. Raine navigated the perilous and unchartered waters of the Great Barrier Reef, often using a sounding line to determine the depth. He was the first European to set foot on what became known as Raine Island and Raine Passage is also named in his honour. A beacon was erected on the island in 1844 to facilitate navigation.
Early in 1819 Raine fitted out the Surry for whaling and set out for Macquarie Island, where he secured five hundred tons of sea elephant oil.
In March 1820 Raine captained the Surry from England to Port Jackson, arriving seven months later to find the colony on the brink of starvation due to crop failures. In December he set sail for Chile to secure a cargo of wheat to alleviate the situation. Shortly before departure from Valparaiso in February 1821 Raine learnt that an American whaling vessel – Essex - had been sunk by a whale mid-ocean, causing the death of most of the crew. There were reportedly three survivors stranded on the uninhabited Ducie Island, a small atoll in the Pitcairn Islands. Raine set out for Ducie, only to find the island deserted. He proceeded to nearby Henderson Island where, on 9 April, he rescued Thomas Chappel, Seth Weeks and William Wright. The men had been there since December 1820, and by then were close to death. Raine transported them to Australia, and they later made their way back to England and the United States. The story of the Essex tragedy inspired Herman Melville's classic 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
Two days after the rescue, on 11 April 1821, Raine records his arrival at Pitcairn Island and his meeting with the descendants of the Bounty mutineers:
They are quite naked, excepting a covering entwined with so much neatness around their middle, that the most delicate eye could not be offended.
The following day he provides an early description of surfing:
"They have pieces of wood, somewhat resembling a butcher’s tray, but round at one end and square at the other, and having on the bottom a small keel; with this they swim off to the rocks at the entrance, getting on which they wait for heavy surf, and, just as it breaks, jump off with the piece of wood under them, and thus, with their heads before the surf, they rush in with amazing rapidity… They steer themselves with their feet, which they move very quickly."
Meanwhile, Governor Macquarie, fearing that the Surry with her shipment of wheat would not arrive in time to avert disaster, purchased wheat from Van Diemen’s Land. When the Surry did arrive – in June - its cargo was forced on the market at great loss to Raine.
In September 1821 Raine was preparing to return to Macquarie Island, when he received a letter from the merchant Edward Wollstonecraft. Impressed by Raine’s account of Pitcairn Island, Wollstonecraft suggested he report on Macquarie Island’s geographical, geological, zoological, botanical and meteorological features. Raine’s detailed report and observations were published in the journal of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society in 1824.
Between 1814 and 1834 Captain Raine transported five shiploads of convicts to Australia on the Surry. His humane treatment of the convicts earned him praise from Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who entrusted Raine to return him and his family to England in following his retirement. The Macquaries embarked in Sydney on 15 February 1822. Among the animals they transported were a horse – Sultan, a cow – Fortune, seven kangaroos, seven emus and two cockatoos.
Upon his return in 1823 Raine partnered with surgeon of the Surry, Dr David Ramsay, to establish the Mercantile House of Raine & Ramsay, one of Sydney’s earliest merchant and shipping firms, located in Pitt Street. The business traded wool, timber, pork, coconut oil, sugar, spices, and rum across the Pacific and Indian oceans. In July 1823 the Surry transported Australia’s first shipment of cedar to England.
Now established as a merchant, Raine became increasingly involved in the colony’s affairs. He was elected a director of both the Sydney & Van Diemen’s Land Packet Company and the Bank of New South Wales. A prominent supporter of Sydney’s benevolent and sporting institutions, Raine was also a member of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Turf Club. An active Presbyterian, he was a founder of Scots Church in 1824. In April 1825 Governor Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane granted Raine a 2,000-acre block on the Fish River near Bathurst, which he named Raineville.
On 6 April 1826 Thomas married Frances Eleanor (Fanny) Worsley at St James Church. Fanny and Thomas had ten children—three sons and seven daughters.
In 1827 Raine turned his attention to New Zealand. He traded extensively with the Maori population, exported flax and established a shipyard at Hokianga River in the North Island.
In 1828 Thomas founded Australia’s first shore-based whaling station at Twofold Bay. He also purchased the Darling Mills at Parramatta, offering a range of products, from foodstuffs and clothing to lamp oil and building materials.
Economic downturn in the colony saw a significant tightening of credit, placing the Raine & Ramsey partnership under great financial pressure. The partnership dissolved in 1828, and in 1829 Raine was declared bankrupt.
Undeterred, Raine relocated his family to his Bathurst landholdings - Raineville. By 1832, he had become a pioneer of wheat and dairy farming, enabling him to gradually settle his debts. He extended his land holdings and commissioned the two-storey Georgian homestead Rainham, one of the first brick houses in the Bathurst district. Rainham’s garden featured willow trees (Salix babylonica) grown from cuttings Thomas had brought from Napoleon’s gravesite on St Helena – reportedly the first introduced into the colony.
When Captain Raine established Boree Station in the 1830s it was considered “beyond the bounds of civilised settlement.” The Boree run was virtually limitless, extending as far west as shepherds cared to go. It extended east to Mount Canobolas and included Boree, Cabonne and Borenore. The permanent springs on the north-western slopes of Canobolas became known as “Captain Raine’s Springs. On 13 March 1835 Major-General Mitchell and Richard Cunningham departed from Boree Station on their expedition to the Darling River.
In 1838 Thomas sold Raineville and moved to land at Frederick’s Valley held by his good friend William Charles Wentworth. There he continued farming, growing maize, running a dairy and cheese factory. In about 1842 Raine erected the first windmill west of Bathurst – The Phoenix – which ground both wheat and corn. The machinery for the mill was transported from Sydney, apparently some of the earliest machinery to cross The Blue Mountains. The mill was later converted to steam, due primarily to the want of wind.
Few public records remain of the time the Raine family spent at Frederick’s Valley. By all accounts Mrs Raine was a woman of great beauty. According to Thomas’ great granddaughter and biographer Margaret de Salis, an artist had requested that she pose as the Virgin Mary, but Thomas refused to allow her to do so. Ms de Salis adds that a Bathurst resident declared “Captain Raine was the man who has the seven lovely daughters. His daughters were the most lovely women I have ever seen.”
Captain Raine’s personal diary provides an insight into daily life in the valley, including a harrowing account of when an epidemic of scarlet fever ravaged the district in 1851. Five of his children contracted the disease, two of them dying.
"15 April: Lizzy very ill. Dr Favell and Dr Bell [came] at 9am, gave her up, but by paying unremitting attention towards noon she rallied. They gave her stimulants, weak Brandy and Water, and got her to take some chicken Broth. Elinor very ill and very precarious. Emily also very bad, shaved her head and put some leeches on her head, still continues very ill. Caroline much better."
The scarlet fever epidemic coincided with the discovery of gold in Frederick’s Valley, just three months after Hargraves and Lister found gold at Ophir. In May 1851 Raine reported finding traces of gold on Wentworth's land, and by August “The Wentworth Diggings” (later Lucknow) had become a hive of prospecting activity.
Few details are known about Thomas’ final years. Overcome by increasing financial difficulties and in failing health, he retired to Sydney, dying at his home in Paddington on 6 June 1860, aged 66, the cause of death being influenza. He is buried in Camperdown Cemetery. Fanny outlived her husband by 16 years. She died on 10 February 1876 at her daughter Thalia’s home, Rosemount, in Ashfield. She is buried alongside Thomas.
Captain Thomas Raine was a well-known and highly esteemed figure in colonial times. Descriptions of him abound. They include “a dashing and daring seaman”, “a swashbuckling buccaneer”, “a charismatic man of vision driven by liberal and humanitarian principles”, “a most enterprising colonist, and one of the most indefatigable merchants of whom the Colony can boast.”
In 1883 Thomas Raine’s grandson Tom founded the company Raine and Horne.
Connections
SubjectsPioneersPeopleThomas RainePlaceFrederick's Valley, NSWLucknow, NSWCollectionOrange City Library
PeopleThomas RainePlaceFrederick's Valley, NSWLucknow, NSWCollectionOrange City LibraryThomas Raine. Central West Libraries, accessed 11/04/2026, https://centralwest.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/31876
