Tom Mead facts for kids

Thomas Francis Mead (born May 4, 1918 – died January 22, 2004) was an important Australian figure. He was a politician and a journalist. As a politician, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. This is like a state parliament where laws are made for New South Wales. He represented the area called Hurstville for the Liberal Party.

Early Life and Beginnings

Thomas Mead was born in Randwick, a suburb in New South Wales, Australia. His father, Robert George Mead, was a horse trainer, and his mother was Lilian Margaret Ryan.

Serving in Politics

Thomas Mead became a member of the New South Wales Parliament in 1965. He won the election for the Hurstville area. He took the seat from the Labor Party representative, Bill Rigby. Thomas Mead was re-elected and served four times. He held his position until the 1976 election. After that, Kevin Ryan from the Labor Party won the seat.

A Career in Journalism

Before and after his time in politics, Thomas Mead had a long career as a journalist. He worked for ten years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery. This meant he reported on what was happening in the national parliament.

From 1952 to 1955, he was a special writer and music critic for The Daily Telegraph newspaper. He then became the chief of staff for the newspaper from 1955 to 1961.

Later, Thomas Mead moved into managing newspapers. He was the managing editor of Suburban Publication Pty Limited from 1961 to 1965. He also owned and directed smaller newspapers in Sydney. He had a share in the St George Daily Leader and became its director in 1968. In 1974, he became the chairman of the Manly Daily newspaper.

Thomas Mead also wrote books. In 1961, he published Killers of Eden. This book told the amazing story of killer whales that worked with people to catch whales at Twofold Bay in New South Wales. He also wrote Manly ferries of Sydney Harbour : the seven mile ships, which was published in 1994.

Thomas Mead passed away in 2004 in Manly, a suburb of Sydney.