Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mort, Thomas Sutcliffe
MORT, THOMAS SUTCLIFFE (1816-1878), a pioneer of commerce in New South Wales, was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on 23 Dec. 1816. As a boy he entered the warehouse of Messrs. H. & S. Henry of Manchester, and in 1838 was recommended by them to their correspondents, Messrs. Aspinall & Brown, in Sydney. With this firm and their successors he remained five years as clerk and salesman. In 1841 he made his first step in colonial enterprise, and became an active promoter of the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company, which afterwards developed into the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. But shortly after the panic of 1843, which ruined some of the best houses in Australia, the failure of the firm which he served threw him on his own resources. He then started in business as an auctioneer, and laid the foundations of the great firm which bore his name. It was in connection with this business that he started the public wool sales of the colony. And it was at this time also that he began experiments in regard to freezing meat. Residing quietly in a cottage at Double Bay, he devoted himself with an exclusive vigour to his new calling, and his wealth and influence increased. In 1846 he bought some land, which is described as 'two or three sand-hills,' at Darling Point. Here a love of gardening, which had always characterised him, and his skill in management, had full scope, and he turned an uninviting tract into the lovely estate of Greenoaks.
In 1849 he took an active part in promoting the first line of railway in New South Wales, between Sydney and Paramatta. When the gold rush came he formed (in 1851) the Great Nugget Vein Mining Company. In 1856 he turned to the encouragement of the pastoral development of the country, and laid at Bodalla the foundations of a rural settlement for the supply of dairy produce to the large towns, which eventually spread over thirty-eight thousand acres, and absorbed 100,000l. of his own capital. It was the favourite resort of his later years. From 1857 to 1859 he was in England, collecting those works of art which eventually adorned his house at Greenoaks.
In 1863, with the view of promoting the use of steamers in the colonial trade, he commenced excavations for the great dock at Port Jackson, where again he invested some 100,000l, and finally constituted the Mort Dock and Engineering Company. The latter years of his life were chiefly devoted to the attempt to perfect the machinery by which meat could be transported in a frozen state for long distances over seas. He was the originator of the modern frozen meat trade. After giving the subject much consideration, he began about 1870, with the aid of Mr. E. D. Nicolle, a series of experiments in freezing and thawing meat and vegetables. In 1875 he erected great slaughter-houses and a freezing establishment at Lithgow, and chartered the first steamer for the new trade. On the eve of its departure he collected around him at a great banquet the public men of the country, and declared that he had solved the problem of the world's food supply. The steamer's machinery failed; the metal did not stand the constant strain of refrigeration, and for a time the transport of frozen meat was thought impossible. Mort, deeply disappointed, gave up his cherished idea, and turned the great freezing-house into an ice factory and a depôt for sending cooked dishes into Sydney. He himself retired to Bodalla, his rural settlement. There on 9 May 1878 he died, ‘the greatest benefactor that the working men of this country ever had,’ and ‘the most unselfish man that ever entered the colony.’ He was twice married. To him was erected, at Sydney, the first statue with which an Australian citizen was honoured.
Mort was a man of indomitable energy, characterised at once by an intensely practical capacity for business and a love of natural scenery and the arts. He was broad and liberal in his views. In 1873 he offered his workmen shares in his business, and all his foremen became shareholders.
A bust of Mort, by Birch, A.R.A., is in the possession of his brother, Mr. William Mort, in London.
[Heaton's Australian Dict. of Dates and Men of the Time ; private information.]