Obituaries Australia

The death occurred at Vittoria on Saturday last of Mr William Tom, at the age of 81, the body being interred on Monday at Byng. The deceased was the son of the late William Tom, who died in 1882 at Springfield, at the age of 92 years, and the brother of Mrs Edmund Webb and Mrs John Smith, of Bathurst. The family is probably the oldest resident in the West, whither the oldest members came in the very early days. Mr Tom will be best remembered as one of the trio who disputed with Mr Hargraves the honor of being the first discoverers of payable gold in Australia. The others were Mr J. H. Lister and the deceased's brother, Mr James Tom. There was never any doubt that the Messrs Tom and Lister were those who took Hargraves on the site of the discovery (the Bluff, at Ophir), and there was never any doubt in the minds of those who knew the facts that the trio were very ill rewarded. The deceased was of the stamp of the early settlers — strong, virile, robust and persevering.