Thomas Reibey (24 September 1821 – 10 February 1912) was an Australian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of Ta ...

from 20 July 1876 until 9 August 1877. Reiby was born in

Hadspen Hadspen is a town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania, Australia, south west of Launceston. Hadspen has few commercial establishments and is primarily a residential suburb of nearby Launceston. Most of the town's buildings are re ...

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

, (now

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) the son of Thomas Haydock Reibey and Richarda Allen, and a grandson of

Mary Reibey Mary Reibey née ''Haydock'' (12 May 177730 May 1855) was an English-born merchant, shipowner and trader who was transported to Australia as a convict. After gaining her freedom, she was viewed by her contemporaries as a community role model an ...

. Reibey was educated at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. His father died before he graduated and he returned to Tasmania. In 1843 Reiby was admitted to Holy Orders by Bishop Francis Nixon. He was for some years rector of Holy Trinity church, Launceston, and afterwards rector of Carrick, where he built and partly endowed a church. About 1858 he became archdeacon of Launceston.

Missions to the islands of Bass Strait

Archdeacon Reibey was one of a number of the Anglican clergy in Tasmania who voyaged to the

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

islands in the middle of the 19th century to minister to the spiritual needs of the islanders of Aboriginal descent. The first such voyage seems to have been that made by Bishop Francis Nixon in 1854. The next such voyage, for which a record survives, was made by archdeacon Reibey in 1862. He was joined on the voyage by another cleric from northern Tasmania, the Reverend John Fereday (1813-1871) of George Town. They departed George Town on 17 March 1862, aboard a cutter of 10 tons with a crew of two seamen. During the cruise they called at

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colon ...

and then Chappell Island, where the islanders had gathered from their various home islands for the annual mutton-bird harvest. When archdeacon Reibey conducted divine service here on Sunday, 23 March 1862, he had a congregation of over sixty people. Nine children were baptised during the service. Reibey and Fereday also visited

Badger Island Badger Island, part of the Badger Group within the Furneaux Group, is a unpopulated low-lying granite and limestone island, located in Bass Strait, lying west of the Flinders and Cape Barren islands, Tasmania, south of Victoria, in south-ea ...

where they met Lucy Beadon. Archdeacon Reibey made subsequent voyages to the islands in 1862 and 1866. Cannon Marcus Brownrigg followed his example and made a series of similar voyages between 1872 and 1885.

Political career

Reibey entered the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

as member for Westbury in 1874 and continued to represent it for 29 years. From March 1875 to July 1876 he was leader of the opposition and then became premier and colonial secretary. But parties were not clearly defined, there was much faction, and his ministry lasted only a little more than a year. He was again leader of the opposition from August 1877 to December 1878 when he became colonial secretary in the William Crowther ministry until October 1879. In July 1887 he was elected speaker of the house of assembly and competently filled the position until July 1891. He was minister without portfolio in the

Edward Braddon Sir Edward Nicholas Coventry Braddon (11 June 1829 – 2 February 1904) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1894 to 1899, and was a Member of the First Australian Parliament in the House of Representatives. Bradd ...

ministry from April 1894 to October 1899. Four years later Reibey retired from politics and confined his interests to country pursuits for the remainder of his long life. He had two estates and kept a stud of horses which he raced purely for the love of sport. In 1882 he won the

Launceston Cup The Launceston Cup is a Tasmanian Turf Club Group 3 open handicap Thoroughbred horse race run over a distance of 2400 metres at Launceston Racecourse in Mowbray, Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map ...

and had just failed to win the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

with ''Stockwell'' — he bought

Malua Malua is a small village on the Samoan island of Upolu. The name originates from the Samoan word "Maluapapa" which is translated 'shelter under the rock'. It is located on the northwestern coast of the island in the electoral constituency (''faip ...

as a yearling, which won the Melbourne Cup in 1884. He retired from racing towards the end of his life on account of his disapproval of some incidents that had occurred in connection with it. He was president of more than one racing club and gave much energy to the improvement of agriculture as president of the Northern Agricultural Society. Keeping his faculties to the end he died aged 90 on 10 February 1912. He married in 1842 Catherine McDonall, daughter of James Kyle of Inverness, who predeceased him. He had no children.

References

* *Peter Bolger,
Reibey, Thomas (1821 - 1912)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 6, MUP, 1976, p. 17. Retrieved 17 October 2012
The Mighty Malua
*

Missions to the islands of Bass Strait

Political career

References

Further reading