The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Thorn, Hon. George
Thorn, Hon. George, formerly Premier of Queensland, son of George Thorn, the founder of the town of Ipswich in that colony, was born in Sydney in 1838, and educated at the King's School, Parramatta, and the University of Sydney, where he graduated B.A. in 1858. Primarily engaging in pastoral pursuits, he was returned to the Queensland House of Assembly for West Moreton in 1867, and sat for that constituency till 1873, when it was subdivided, and he was elected for Fassifern. He was appointed Postmaster-General in the Macalister Ministry with a seat in the Legislative Council as Representative of the Government in that Chamber in Jan. 1874, and in October of that year he attended the Intercolonial Conference held at Sydney, to consider the laying of cables to connect New Zealand with New South Wales, and extending the communication to Singapore and Europe via Normanton. Mr. Macalister resigned in June 1876, and Mr. Thorn became Premier with the office of Minister of Works and Mines. In March 1877 the Ministry was reconstructed, Mr. Douglas becoming Premier in place of Mr. Thorn, who continued to hold office under his successor as head of the Public Works and Mines Department till Nov. 1877, when he again became Minister of Lands and Mines. In February of the following year he resigned and visited England. On his return in 1879 he was elected to the Assembly for Dalby, and subsequently represented Northern Downs. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Ipswich at the general election in 1888.