The Tommy Norton Towing a Schooner Outside the Entrance.

Rare, c.19th hand coloured engraving of the “Tommy Norton” at Lakes Entrance, Gippsland.

The Thomas Norton was a paddle steamer operated in the 1870s at Lakes Entrance and in the Gippsland Lakes, affectionately known as the ‘Tommy Norton’. Built by W & G White at Williamstown, Victoria, in 1859, consisted of one deck, one mast, with a rounded stern. She was brought to the Gippsland Lakes by the newly formed ‘Gippsland Lakes Navigation Company’ in 1864. The steamer worked as a tug, at the bar of the natural entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. She worked in direct competition with the ‘Lady of the Lake’, towing schooners and steamers through the tricky and forever varying entrance. When the natural entrance was totally sealed or too shallow to navigate, the  ‘Tommy Norton’ would be used to take passengers and cargo on the twice-weekly Latrobe Bridge, Sale to Bairnsdale run. Sadly, on the 26th October 1877, in the evening somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 pm, the ‘Tommy Norton’ sank.

From the original edition of The Illustrated Sydney News.

References:
Gibbs & Shallard. Illustrated Sydney News. ISSN 2203-5397.

Collections:
State Library New South Wales: F8/39-40
State Library Victoria: PCINF SLVIC=1853-1872
National Library Australia: Bib ID 440095