Notes for Thomas Arthur WAIN:
Qld State Archives- Film M1706 IMM/126 Imm/127 to page 216.
"Eastern Monarch" Free- WAYNE Thomas - 21 . 1706 tons- sailed from Glasgow 20 July 1883. Arrived Townsville 24 October 1883. (Only suitable reference that I have been able to discover).
Marriage: Married at the house of Richard Holden of Southport according to the rites of the Primitive Methodist Church Ref #A88696, 1890
Reference: Qld Post Office Directory references- 1895-6 WAIN Thos Southport
Reference: 1897-99 Southport. Clerk of Petty Sessions (Acting) Thomas Kinsella - Bailiff Thomas WAIN
1900 WAIN Thomas, Bailiff Southport
Reference: 1892-3 BANHAM John & Thomas, carriers, Southport (thought to be cousins of T.A.)
Reference: Moreton Regiment "G" Company (Southport) No 137 WAIN T. Date of attestation 12 April 1891
1903 Queensland Post Office Directory: WAIN Thomas, bailiff, Southport
Family information: Sexton at Southport Cemetery and sometime projectionist at picture theatre.
Birth Ref: Dec 1863 8d 19, District of Salford, sub-dist Pendleton, County of Lancaster
Qld Certificate of Title: #226503 (C) no. 134609 No of previous Certificate of Title 88655 Register Book, Vol 839 Folio 99 4th August 1892 registered 6th August 1892 County of Ward, Parish of nerang being subdivision Fifty of Portion Fifty five, one rood, eighteen perches and three fifths of a perch.
Ref: Manchester Unity - Independent Order of Oddfellows in Queensalnd. Joined the Loyal King Edward Lodge in Southport on 30th August 1902.
HALE AND HEARTY. MARRIED 65 YEARS AGO. (sic) "The South Coast Bulletin" Wednesday January 7, 1953.
We offer our congratulations to Mrs and Mrs Thomas Wain of Nerang Road, who celebrated quietly the 65th (sic) anniversary of their wedding day on New Year's Day. Both Mr & Mrs Wain who are 89 and 82 years old respectively are in good health and attend to their own duties about the house and garden. Mr Wain came out from London (sic) when he was 18 and lived in Townsville for 2 years, coming to Southport in 1884.
Mr & Mrs Wain were married in a house in Eugaree St by the C of E Minister (sic), and have lived in Southport ever since. They have 11 children (one of whom is dead) but there six sons and four daughters living. They are Mrs P.Gilby Morningside) Mrs W Flitcroft (Stanthorpe) Mrs I Tarbit (Bald Hills) Mrs W E Leppien (Southport). The sons are Arthur (Sydney) Joe (Stanthorpe) Bill (Southport) Ernie (Stanthorpe) Len,( Southport - teacher at Surfers Paradise School) Roy (Maryborough). Mrs M Harper was the daughter who died.
They have 36 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. Until he was 83 years Mr Wain took an active interest in the affairs of this town. He worked for Thams Bros for many years and was Sexton of the Southport Cemetery Trust for about 20 years until he retired from active life. Two years ago, this well-known identity met with an accident (which slowed him up somewhat), but he still attends to his garden and potters about the place.
Mr Wain is still a keen reader, especially of history, and is most interesting if one can get him talking of old times. He was working as a mere boy in England when the "Robert Peel" act came into force in England regarding child labour. And he can tell of incidents when the 'bosses' knew that inspectors were coming to inspect the factories, when the children in their employ were hidden in cellars or other places until the inspection was over, and then brought out to continue their work.
Mrs Wain was Miss Amelia(sic) Harvey and she came out with her parents from Cornwall when she was 17 years of age (sic) to Brisbane in the same ship as the late Mr Dick Holden who passed away at Benowa recently.
PASSING OF OLD RESIDENT- LATE T.A.WAIN
The funeral last Friday of Mr Thomas Arthur Wain, aged 94, marked the passing of one of Southport's pioneers. At the time of his death, Mr Wain was the oldest inhabitant of this town and had lived here for nearly 73 years (sic).
Leaving his home in lancashire as a lad of 18 he migrated to Australia landing in North Queensland. After working some time at Charters Towers he walked to Brisbane and then later to Southport, where he took up permanent residence.
Times were often hard in those early days and eventually he and a couple of mates walked as far as Melbourne and Adelaide looking for work.
After his return he married Miss Emily Louisa Harvey. They raised a family of six sons, and five daughters, all of whom with the exception of one daughter are still alive. At present there are 90 living descendants.
Mr Wain was the first member of the Oddfellows Lodge and also joined the Old Moreton Bay Regiment.
During his lifetime he saw tremendous changes occur in the South Coast district and used to tell the story of how one very early resident at Meyer's Ferry (now Surfers Paradise) offered him an acre of land for a bottle of rum. Certainly not a 1958 transaction.
A fitting epitaph is to be found in a remark by one of his oldest friends at the funeral - "He was a great old man."
Death ref#1958/B025703, Brisbane

Reference: Qld Post Office Directory references-ˇ Reference: 1895-6 WAIN Thos Southportˇ Reference: 1897-99 Southport. Clerk of Petty Sessions (Acting) Thomas Kinsellaˇ Reference: Bailiff Thomas WAINˇ Reference: 1900 WAIN Thomas, bailiff Southportˇ Reference: 1892-3 BANHAM John & Thomas, carriers, Southport(probably cousins) ˇ