NameThomas Memorial Library CollectionCollection summaryThe Thomas Memorial Library Collection was originally housed in the School of Arts building at Shellharbour Village.
The collection of books and curios was donated by Isabella Thomas on behalf of her husband William Makin Thomas.
On the death of William Makin Thomas, he bequeathed his collection of 1150 books, curios, photographs, and Aboriginal cultural heritage items, to the Shellharbour School of Arts with the wish that a room be built to house the collection, and that it me named in memory of his father, John Thomas.
William's wife, Isabella Thomas, who paid for the rooms construction, was presented with a signet ring on the opening of the Thomas Memorial Room at the Shellharbour School of Arts, in 1924.
The Thomas Memorial Room was located in the Shellharbour School of Arts building in Mary Street, built by George Laurence Fuller of Dunmore.
An inscription on a brass plate within the room read 'This Library was bequeathed to the Shellharbour School of Arts by the late W.M. Thomas, District Surveyor of Armidale, and this room was erected by his wife, Isabella, in remembrance of their father, the late John Thomas of Shellharbour.'
William Makin Thomas married Isabella Dickson in 1888. The couple eventually moved to Armidale, NSW, where William was appointed the District Surveyor. After William's death in 1919, Isabella moved back to Shellharbour.