Thomas Walker Bee

Thomas Walker Bee (c. 1822 – 12 January 1910)[1] was a public servant in the early days of the colony of South Australia.

[2] Within a few years Mrs Bee was advertising that she was taking young ladies for classes in French, Italian, music and other subjects at their home in Norwood.

[3] In 1855 Bee joined the South Australian civil service as a clerk with the Emigration department, handling the settlement of large numbers of single female immigrants, mostly from Ireland.

It had been anticipated that they would fill the pressing need for domestic servants, but those sent out by the Emigration Commissioners were mostly unskilled and uneducated and more interested in finding husbands than in working for a living.

[4] The duties of this position included investigation of the applicants for public assistance and prosecution of those supplicants found to have concealed assets or relations who could have provided support.