Thomas Chirnside

[1] The elder Chirnside settled in Werribee, Victoria, just before the gold rushes, eventually buying 80,000 acres (320 km²) of land.

He donated an acre (0.4 ha) of land and £100 for the first Presbyterian Church in Werribee and, in February 1884, he laid the foundation stone of the second one.

[1] Thomas and his brother, Andrew Spencer Chirnside, bought Skibo Castle, located to the west of Dornoch in Sutherland, Scotland, and the surrounding 20,000 acres for £125,000 in 1868 and lived there until they sold it in 1871 for £130,000[4].

In 1887, suffering from depression, Thomas Chirnside committed suicide with a shotgun in the garden of the Werribee Park Mansion.

Wool Past the Winning Post by Heather B Ronald A History of the Chirnside Family published by Landvale Enterprises 1978