Thomas MudgePrint Page

Erected to the memory of the late Thos. Mudge who died on Dec. 20th 1929.

Thomas Mudge
"King of the West"
1868 - 1929

Mr Thomas Mudge was born on 29 December 1868 in Streaky Bay to parents John and Agnes Mudge.

At the end of his education Thomas Mudge travelled for three years through the Gawler Ranges for W. H. Betts.  He then joined his father who had built the Flinders Hotel.  It held a licence to sell ales, wines and spirits also to provide accomodation to the public.  This is located on the foreshore of town and is still operating today.

Thomas and his father took up 2,600 acres of virgin land which when cleared was recognized as the pioneer farm in the District.  After his father`s death Thomas` brother Charles joined him on the farm, the family controlled 30,000 acres of land in the District, including well know valuable properties Benbutta, Chilpanunda and Moorkitable.

On 15 July 1896 Mr Mudge joined the District Council of Streaky Bay.  He was elected to the vermin board in December 1902 and served continuously until his death.  He was secretary of the racing club practically from the time it became registered, a member for many years of the Institute committee, on the hospital board from the time it was taken over by the Council, was a foundation member of the Streaky Bay Ceduna and Le Hunt Masonic Lodges and at one time held interest in the hotels at Ceduna and Denial Bay.

For 25 years Mr Mudge ran mail contracts between Port Lincoln and Fowlers Bay.  He became the first man to introduce motor vehicles for the use of mail services on the West Coast.

One of his most outstanding services was the donation of ideal land around the town.  This includes where the Streaky Bay Hospital now stands, the Streaky Bay Masonic Lodge, as well the land where the jetty playground once stood.

Upon his death in 1929, Mr Mudge achieved a state record for having approximately 10,000 acres of cropped land and had both the Flinders and Criterion Hotels at Streaky Bay under his control.  Mr Mudge left a beloved wife Catherine Esther Grace Montgomerie and his seven children.

The memorial to the `King of the West` was unveiled by his son Alwyn in 1938.   Appropriately situated in Alfred Terrace at the entrance of the path to the original site of the jetty playgound.