Skip to main content

Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Roles
Occupation
Fellow

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Fellow

Position - Fellow of Coral Thomas Fellowship

Karskens, Grace

2018 - 2019

2016 - 2017

2020 - 2021

Search

Browse

Browse
- Artefacts
- Buildings
- Events
- Natural Features
- Organisations
- People
- Places
- Structures
- Entries
- Multimedia
- Subjects
- Roles
- Contributors

Footer

Home
About
Copyright
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Fellow

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.

full record »

Karskens, Grace

Author and historian whose books include the 'The Rocks: Life in Early Sydney' and 'The Colony: A History of Early Sydney' and 'People of the River'.

full record »

Taylor, Rebe

Historian and writer whose books include 'Unearthed: The Tasmanian Aborigines of Kangaroo Island ' and 'Into the Heart of Tasmania'. She was the inaugural Coral Thomas Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales for her project 'The Wedge Collection: moments of encounter on the Tasmanian and Victorian frontiers'.

full record »

Young, Sally

Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne and author of 'Paper Emperors: the rise of Australia’s newspaper empires'. The 2020 Coral Thomas Fellow at the State Library of NSW.

full record »