The Late Thos. S.Mort

C.19th lithographed portrait of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (1816-1878).

Mort arrived in Australia in 1838. He rose to prominence in the colony through his many commercial ventures and pastoral enterprises, and became one of Sydney’s leading businessmen. By the end of the 1840s his fortune was made. Mort was behind initiatives such as weekly wool auctions and the refrigeration of food. He was involved in moves for the first railway in New South Wales, and was also one of the founders of the AMP Society. Mort was also the founder of Mort’s Dock at Balmain in 1854, which gave Sydney its first major dry dock for repairing ships. T.S. Mort was generous and public spirited. He was an active and prominent lay member of the Anglican church and the local community. He donated the land for St Mark’s Church, Darling Point and commissioned Edmund Blacket to design it. Blacket also designed the renovations and additions to Mort’s own home, Greenoakes (later Bishopscourt).