Thomas Sloane of Moorilla Station, Young.
From an article by H.J.Carter in the Sydney Morning Herald Saturday 29 October, 1932.
Thomas Sloane, sheep breeder, naturalist and entomologist of Moorilla Station, Young was a notable Australian, who died at the Burrangong Hospital, Young on Thursday 20 October.
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One of the five sons of Alexander Sloane of Mulwala, Murray River, a well- known merino expert, he spent his early days at Scots College Melbourne and partly with a tutor at Mulwala. Natural history was his passion and though he came to Sydney to learn business methods he found association with Sir W. Macleay and his bother naturalists more interesting than sheep breeding.
When he took on the management of Moorilla for A. Sloane and Sons he had already began to communicate papers to the Linnaean Society of New South Wales, greatly aided by his close friend, the late J. J. Fletcher.
An enthusiastic Darwinian who knew “The Origin” thoroughly , he studied the anatomy, phylogeny, classification and distribution of two groups of beetles, the Cicendelidae( Tiger beetles ) and the Carabidae, soon becoming the Australian expert, later a world authority on the latter group. It has been stated that “Sloane’s Table of Tribes” was the most satisfactory classification in existence. He had a wide correspondence with British and Continental authors.
To all collectors Sloane was a mine of information, he and the late Mr. A. M .Lea, dividing the honours in affording help by naming specimens and giving advice. Few entomologists went so deeply into his subject as he, for his philosophic mind demanded more than mere description of new species and his researches went into heredity and distribution demanding wide reading.
He studied Australian exploration closely and possessed a good library on the subject.
His paper “On the Faunal Subdivisions of Australia” is a classic frequently quoted by others.
We made many interesting trips together over this continent, and were I think the first entomologists to explore the Dorrigo and Barrington Tops.
A more lovable companion could not be conceived. Unselfish and cheerful, with a flood of anecdote, he was a good mixer with bush folk whom he thoroughly understood.
He was a keen merino sheep breeder he had a stud of his own registered in the flock-book.
During his early days at Moorilla he won numerous prizes for sheep at various shows. Generous to others , sparing in his own wants , a stole by nature and will, his later years were clouded by economic burdens. With a strong vigorous physique he suffered little illness till recently, when cardiac asthma assailed him.
A widow, two sons and four daughters mourn his loss, as do his many friends.
