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The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

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Coral Thomas Fellowship

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Humanities

Coral Thomas Fellowship

Biennial research fellowship offered by the State Library of New South Wales. It was established in 2015 by Rob Thomas and his family at the end of his tenure as President of the Library Council in honour of his mother, Coral Kirkwood Thomas née Patrick (1920-1996). It is the Library's most significant fellowship.

Coral Thomas was born in Scotland 1920. She was an intellectual woman, awarded the Thow Scholarship in Civil, Constitutional and Public Law, and the Muirhead Prize for Law whilst attending Edinburgh University. Her academic career was curtailed during the War and in 1942 she joined the Foreign Office where she was employed in code and cipher work. During a posting to the British Embassy in Washington she met Fred Thomas, Group Captain of the RAAF Mission. They were married in May 1944 and moved to Melbourne where they raised their family and took an active part in the city's cultural life.