Name (FAMILY NAME, Other Names)	COLLEY, Thomas
Date of Birth	Baptised 9 April 1826
Place of Birth	Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, England
Date of Death	24 June 1877
Place of Death	Burra Hospital, Kooringa, South Australia
Place of Burial
Arrived in South Australia (date/ship etc.)	Duchess of Northumberland, left London 6/8/1839, arrived Adelaide 19/12/1839
Addresses/Dates in Prospect Council Area	Section 349, allotment 51, western half, 1839 to 1845
Addresses/Dates outside Prospect Council Area	Kooringa, SA. By 1873, until his death in 1877
Names of houses (if any)
Parents - names; DOBs etc (if known)	James Colley, 1804-1879. Mary Allen born 1801 Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, died at sea en route to South Australia, 1839
Spouse(s) - including maiden name; DOBs etc. (if known)	Ann McCarthy, nee Bourke
Date(s) of Marriage(s)	6 August 1873
Place(s) of Marriage(s)	Kooringa, SA
Children - names and dates of birth/death if known
Education	Literate
Occupation(s)	Coach driver
Interests/Activities
Religion/Churches
Notes (points of interest etc.)	Thomas came to Australia with his parents in 1839 but the early years in South Australia must have been fraught. His mother and all but one of his siblings had died by 1845 and he himself ended up in prison for six months, in 1846. He had already moved away from Prospect by then, for he had been living in Flaxman’s Valley in the Barossa Valley for six months when he was charged.   Some years later he went to Victoria, though when exactly is unclear. In November 1852, the post office in Adelaide included Thomas in the list of unclaimed letters. He returned from Melbourne on the Havilar, arriving 18 September 1854. (S.A Register, Tuesday 19 September 1854.) Presumably he had been drawn to Victoria by the gold rush but must have seen the error of his ways.   Thomas Colley next featured in the press when, on 4 October 1855, he appeared in court in Adelaide, charging that Jabez Crosby had assaulted him on election day, 22 September. Thomas had grabbed a flag the defendant was waving and Crosby had retaliated, striking Thomas on the head. The judge found Crosby guilty but, given the provocation, had fined him only a shilling plus costs. (Adelaide Times, 14 October 1855.)   By 1856 Thomas Colley was working as a driver on the Gawler-Adelaide mail service. He was described as the driver of the Gawler mail when he appeared as a witness in an Adelaide court case in April that year. (Adelaide Observer 19 April 1856, p.2.) A few months later, Mr Johnson, of Gawler Town, was charged with assaulting Thomas Colley, "the driver of the Adelaide mail", and fined 10/- with costs. (Adelaide Times, 20 November 1856, p. 3).   Thomas Colley's tenure as a mail driver came to an end in 1870. He was presented by the "settlers of the north east" and others with a "very flattering testimonial for his  civility and the satisfactory manner he performed his duties while driver of the north eastern mail for many years." The money raised was invested for his benefit. "In anticipation of the opening of the railway a very nice omnibus and pair of horse has been purchased, which Mr Colley intends running for the convenience of the public from the railway terminus to the neighbouring townships." (South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, Saturday 6 August 1870, p. 7.)   On 6 August 1873, Thomas Colley married Ann McCarthy, whose father had been John Bourke (written as Perks, but it was Bourke). As far as we know, this was his first marriage; he was 47 years old.   In 1877 Ann Colley, alias Ann McCarthy and Ann McCaulife, was charged with the murder of Thomas Colley, and her ten year old son, William, was accused of helping her cover up the crime. (South Australian Register, 24 July 1877.) In the event, they were acquitted but Ann did not cover herself with glory. Her version of events was that Thomas Colley had been shooting crows while she and her son were indoors. The gun exploded into smithereens and Thomas' left hand was badly damaged.   Young William ran to a neighbour for help and the neighbour took Thomas and Ann to Burra Hospital, many miles distant. Apparently, Thomas was the worse for drink and Ann was roaring drunk - and drank all the way to hospital. There, on 31 May 1877, Thomas' hand was amputated. The doctor forbade Ann to nurse her husband and said she could visit him only twice a day, briefly. When the doctor learnt Ann was turning up drunk every time, he banned her unless she arrived sober. After a couple of weeks, she arrived for a visit and was seen to lie on top of poor Thomas, who cried out that she was hurting him. At the request of Thomas, she was thrown out of the hospital but that night,  Tuesday 12 June, Thomas' stump began to bleed and Thomas admitted to having given it "a good scratching". The surgeon stopped the bleeding but Thomas, who had been improving after the surgery, now began to decline. He died at 5 pm on Sunday 24 June.    Ann Colley accused the hospital of neglect but an inquest exonerated the hospital and its staff. Dr Brummitt testified that the bleeding had probably been caused by violence but could not say whether by scratching or something else.   There things might have rested except that a police sergeant, en route to the inquest with Ann Colley, had asked her what had happened. Unconvinced by her account, he instituted a search for the gun, allegedly blown to smithereens, and discovered that it had been found by the neighbour who had ferried the stricken man to hospital. The neighbour still had it - and it had clearly been deliberately damaged, and then hidden. Evidence was also given that Ann had rowed with Thomas shortly before the accident.   Thus was Ann charged, and her poor son. William was described as being Thomas' son but he was Ann’s son from her previous, second marriage.   It would have been hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ann was guilty, and so she was acquitted. A miscarriage of justice, one suspects.
Local Government experience (if any)
Sources of information	BDM and shipping records, Trove
Principal Researcher	Joan Wilcox