DetailsExtract from a Ginger Meggs cartoon highlighting the link to Hornsby and Foster's Orchard.
Information about Thomas Foster by Ray Foster:
Thomas Foster married Margaret, daughter of Michael and Margaret Madigan on November 28 1872 in the Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth Street, Sydney. His occupation was given as Sawyer and both bride and groom signed the register with their mark 'X', showing they could neither read nor write.
They lived in a timber cottage near the site of the former Pacific Highway at Hornsby on land that Margaret had inherited from her father. Here, Thomas Foster established a citrus and apple orchard, and 'Foster's Orchard' became well known to the children of the neighbourhood. Jimmy Bancks visited the orchard while living in Hornsby as a child, so it became famous in the long running cartoon saga he wrote called ginger Meggs.
When the Strathfield to Hornsby Railway line was constructed in 1886 it passed through the Foster property and a railway crossing was made nearby for the Peats ferry Road. Foster was paid 178 pounds for the loss of that part of his orchard land.KeywordsGinger MeggsCartoon charactersCartoonists
