Australian Dictionary of Biography

Lieut. Thurles Thomas, 1942

Thurles Thomas Archives, Abbotsleigh

Florence Mary Thurles Thomas (1908–1997), librarian, solicitor, and teacher, was born on 13 October 1908 at Inverell, New South Wales, eldest of two children of New South Wales-born parents Alfred Ernest Albert Thomas, pharmacist, and his wife Ada Ruby, née Butler. The family relocated to Chatswood, Sydney, to provide Thurles and her brother access to greater educational opportunities. She attended Abbotsleigh Church of England School for Girls, Wahroonga (1921–26), and was an accomplished student, keen cricketer, and captain of the Chatswood Company of Girl Guides. Obtaining her Leaving certificate with honours in French, Latin, and history, she was awarded a public exhibition.

Thomas graduated from the University of Sydney (BA, 1930; LLB, 1933), gaining a Blue for cricket and winning the Rose Scott prize for private international law. Her enrolment in law was a rarity at the time. She faced paternalistic attitudes during her studies and was encouraged to stay away from lectures containing unsavoury topics, such as adultery. Undeterred, she addressed the legal constraints faced by women in a speech to the Feminist Club conference in 1933. She went on to serve as an articled law clerk to a solicitor and family friend, Ronald Duncan, and on 26 May 1933 was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Forging a deep and enduring connection with Abbotsleigh, Thomas would serve on the school council for three stints. She found it difficult to obtain work in the law, and returned to the school to work in 1937, initially as a form mistress and later as Abbotsleigh’s first full-time librarian. In 1942 she left to serve in World War II, enlisting in the Australian Women’s Army Service on 26 January. Working largely in administration and training, by April 1944 she had risen to the rank of captain. She cut a confident figure in her military uniform, her face framed by a neat, dark bob of hair.

After being discharged on 29 January 1946, Thomas became chief librarian of Newtown Municipal Library. She undertook the qualifying examination of the Australian Institute of Librarians in 1948. The following year she joined the book trade, working for the retailer Swain and Company, only to return to libraries in 1953, taking up the position of chief librarian at Canterbury Municipal Library. Taking an interest in municipal libraries and the patrons who frequented them, she called for librarians to work in close partnership with architects on the planning and realisation of new buildings. She oversaw the relocation of Canterbury Municipal Library from its temporary premises to a permanent new home at Beamish Street, Campsie. A work of ‘pleasing modernity’ (Thomas 1958, 120), the T-shaped building provided spaces for adults and children.

An ardent supporter of the profession, Thomas advocated for the establishment of an adequate industrial award and greater remuneration for municipal library staff. She authored a highly regarded staff manual, and later published a report into library services available to migrants in New South Wales. Her recommendations included increasing the provision of both English as a second language and foreign language materials, and greater outreach services to migrants.

From 1959 to 1966 Thomas returned to her alma mater, taking up a position at the University of Sydney law school library. Pictured at the university’s Fisher Library in 1966, her dark bob had greyed and she held herself with an air of quiet authority. Her time at the University of Sydney was followed by a stint again working in the book trade for another retailer, James Bennett. She then moved to Macquarie University in 1972, which provided her with the opportunity to draw on her legal training in developing the law library’s nascent collection. Until 1976 she also taught legal research at the university library.

Thomas served as a councillor and president of the New South Wales branch of the Library Association of Australia, as well as a general councillor and convenor of the committee on the role of the association. Her legal acumen came to the fore in the drafting of the association’s royal charter and by-laws. As testament to her contribution to the profession she was made a fellow of the Library Association of Australia in 1972, and in 1977 received the H. C. L. Anderson award, the highest honour conferred by the association on its members.

A ‘larger than life personality’ (Bashford and Pollack 1998, 37), Thomas was remembered by former law librarian colleagues for her abilities in mentoring and teaching research skills, and her love of travel, jokes, and stories. She died on 8 November 1997 at Gordon, Sydney, and was cremated; she had never married. A memorial service was held at Abbotsleigh Chapel on 18 November; the school’s archives were named in her honour, and in 1998 a memorial prize for library research was founded by the Abbotsleigh Old Girls’ Union. Throughout her career, her pioneering spirit as a librarian was matched by a commitment to the communities that she served.