Tom Gunn was the youngest of seven children born to Donald and Sophie (née Hughes). Tom’s father, a successful grazier, died when Tom was twelve, and Tom grew up in Brisbane with his widowed mother.
He became bored with city life and, in 1907, prevailed upon his mother to lend him the money to buy 'Old Cashmere', thirty miles outside St George, Queensland. The property was undeveloped and had limited water, but during Tom’s time became something of a local landmark: Ampol used to have it marked on their road maps. His mother insisted on the loan being repaid, but through hard work and a frugal life style (he recorded on one occasion having nothing much more than a boiled emu egg for dinner), Tom made the property a success.
He married Irene Isgar (1886-1972) in 1913. Irene, born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, was a governess on the property next door and Tom wooed her with poems. They had two sons and three daughters.
The harsh environment, the animals, and the characters of the bush inspired his poems.
Tom died in Brisbane in 1950.
His son Tom wrote, 'Dad had the Gift - the composition of poetry came so easily to Dad that he could write a complete letter in verse almost as easily as most of us can write one in prose.'
(Biography supplied by the family.)
