Robert Thomas was South Australia's first printer. A London bookseller, stationer and printer, he was enthused by the writings of E. G. Wakefield, and in 1836 bought land in the proposed colony of South Australia and prepared to emigrate. With his friend George Stevenson as editor, he published in London on 18 June 1836 the first issue of the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, a newspaper which was to act as an official government gazette and a provider of general news.
Thomas and his wife and family arrived in South Australia in November 1836. At the end of December 1836, he produced the first piece of print, a single sheet proclaiming the founding of the colony, printed in a rush hut at Glenelg. Thomas had brought with him printing staff and equipment, including an iron Stanhope press, and he set himself up in business in Hindley Street, Adelaide, as a general store, stationer and printer, known as Robert Thomas and Co., or Thomas and Co. The first colonial edition of the paper, later called the South Australian Register, was published on 3 June 1837.
Robert Thomas was forced to sell the paper in 1842, due to insolvency. Governer Gawler had withdrawn government business because Thomas had published material critical of him. However Thomas's son, William Kyffin Thomas, regained control and ultimately ownership of the paper, and of the printing and publishing firm, which became W. K. Thomas and Co.
Thomas's wife Mary Thomas documented the story of the Thomas family and the Register in her diaries and letters, published in 1915 as The Diary and Letters of Mary Thomas (1836-1866).
