History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/Thomas Edward Self

Thomas Edward Self
A comprehensive biography of Thomas Edward Self has not yet been prepared, however the following resources have been assembled in preparation:


 * Research - Thomas Edward Self - Summary of research to date


 * Transcriptions and Notes - Thomas Edward Self - More than 50 transcriptions


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 * Incubator of Wikipedia Article on Thomas Edward Self - Coming real soon now!

IN RESEARCHING THOMAS EDWARD SELF, THE TELEGRAPHY ENGINEER AND WIRELESS EXPERIMENTER, BE AWARE THAT HIS FATHER WAS OF THE SAME NAME AND ANOTHER UNRELATED THOMAS EDWARD SELF LIVED IN HOBART THROUGH THE SAME PERIOD

Pending further progress on the foregoing, the following brief obituary in the Hobart Critic of 29 October 1915 for Thomas Edward Self touches briefly on his contribution to the development of communications in Tasmania in the latter years of the 1800s and the early 1900s "Commentator. . . . The death of Mr. Thomas E. Self takes one’s memory back to the days of long ago, when the then generation travelled by coach, and went dead slow in the avocations of life. Tom came from good old English stock, and was one of those characters who from youth to manhood gently rolled through the world without any undue fuss, and as a rule always reached the goal he made for. He had a pleasant personality and was a bright, good-hearted fellow, and a warm friend. In his early days he was a prominent member of the Galatea Cricket Club, which made a name for itself in the seventies. Tom was a long-stop. Most balls he missed with his hands he fielded with his legs. This procedure, which can hardly be called legitimate, kept down runs, and earnt for Tom the title of the 'Man with the iron legs.' Being of a mechanical bent, he joined the constructive and mechanical branch of the telegraph department, and reached a highly responsible position. He was one of those who assisted to lay the submarine cable across the river from Government House Point to Lindisfarne in 1885, and when he was transferred to the Commonwealth department he took up an important appointment in the construction department of telegraphic and telephonic extension. Of late years the subject of this brief notice has been suffering from bodily ills, and he was compelled to relinquish work. When one last met him, he was cheerful, and when one alluded to his trouble, he philosophically replied: 'There are heaps of worse things in the world.' The deceased was an all-round lover of sport, and in his younger days was actively engaged in aquatic pursuits."