Tom Gellibrand was born at Nuwara Iliya in Ceylon now Sri Lanka on November 29, 1908. His father was a captain in the British Army and he retired in 1912 and brought the family to Tasmania where two of his brothers were running the family property Cleveland at Ouse. He bought an apple orchard and just one year later the First World War started and he joined the A.I.F. Tom then aged five had a daily tutor and later went to Hutchen's School in Hobart and finally to Geelong Grammar. His great interest was farming particularly in sheep and he was a jackaroo on Western Victorian properties and he also took a course on wool-classing at the Geelong Gordon Institute. Whilst he was farming at Murrindindi in north-east Victoria he joined and was commissioned in the Light Horse. At the outbreak of World War 2 he transferred to the 2nd A.I.F. and served in the 9th Division in Tobruk and both battles of El Alamein and later on the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea. It was here that his health became permanently impaired and he was discharged from the army. In 1963 Tom became Secretary of the R.A.O.U. and continued until 1968. It was during these years, during which I became President, that I came to know Tom well. He was one of nature's gentlemen, a tall quietly spoken man with great dedication and purpose. His main interest was in conservation and he at this time drew up the conservation policy of the Union. His motion at the Hobart Congress in 1964 that the collecting of birds or their eggs within the area specified for a Congress shall not be permitted was seconded by Noel Jack of Queensland and carried. Tom died in Tasmania on November 15, 1981. The name Gellibrand is well-known in Victoria. Tom's great-grandfather Joseph Tice Gellibrand was appointed the first Attorney General for Tasmania in 1824 and he was behind the move to send John Batman to start a settlement in Victoria. It was on a visit to Melbourne in 1837 that he with Mr Hesse whilst visiting settlers of the Port Phillip Association became lost in the Otways and search parties failed to find them or their horses. Point Gellibrand, Mt Gellibrand and the Gellibrand River are places named after him. Tom's father, who was also famous as Major-General Sir John Gellibrand K.C.B.
became a founder of Legacy. Gellibrand House and Gellibrand Scholarship was named after him. He also was Tasmania's only General. Our deepest sympathy goes to Tom's wife Jean and their daughters Helen and Vanessa, his sister Cynthia, all of Tasmania, and other relations.