Tommaso Henry Fiaschi DSO VD MD (1853 - 1927)

Born 31 May 1853 in Tizzana, Quarrata, Pistoia, Toscana, Italia

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine Anne (Reynolds) Fiaschi — married 17 Feb 1876 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Husband of Amy (Curtis) Fiaschi — married 19 Aug 1914 in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia

Descendants

Died 17 Apr 1927 at age 73 in Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Thomas Fiaschi DSO VD MD is Notable.

Brigadier General Doctor Tommaso "Thomas" Henry Fiaschi DSO VD MD ChD was born on 31st May 1853 at Tizzana, Tuscany, Italy. He was a son of Lodovico Fiaschi, a professor of mathematics at the University of Florence, and his English-born wife Clarissa Fisher, who had tutored the children of Prince Corsini of Florence. Educated at the Universities of Pisa and Florence, Thomas graduated with the degrees MD and ChD.

Thomas Fiaschi DSO VD MD migrated from Italy to Queensland.

Fiaschi came to Australia at the age of 22. First he practiced at Cooktown, Queensland and was on the Palmer goldfields in its stirring days.

Thomas was a medical doctor and surgeon

He then became a doctor at St Vincent's Hosptial, Sydney. Well, he had been working there just a few weeks when his employment ceased abruptly! He married Kate Reynolds, known as Sister Mary Regis an Irish Catholic Nurse / Nun, also at St Vincent's Hospital, on 19th February 1876 at Bethel House, George Street North, Sydney, New South Wales, by Congregational rites.^[1] Kate was the only nun to have ever left the Sisters of Charity and now was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. The young couple made their way to Windsor, which afforded them enough anonymity to begin their married life and to start a medical practice which they set up initially in the Macquarie Arms Inn, Thompson Square, then moved a little down the hill into what became known as the Doctor’s House, still in Thompson Square.

In August 1877 they travelled to Italy, where Thomas completed his degree and their first son was born, Ludovico Fiaschi (1877-1944), and then returned permanently to New South Wales in 1879. Back at Windsor, he spent time developing both his profession and his interest in agriculture. And the family kept increasing: Dr Piero Fiaschi OBE (1879-1948) and Dr Carlo Fiaschi (1880-1910). In 1883 he moved his practice to Sydney, where four more children were delivered: Thomas Fiaschi (1884-84), Clarissa, the Marchesa Torrigiani (1885-), unnamed Fiaschi (1888-88) and Eleonora Tennant (1893-1963).

Thomas Fiaschi DSO VD MD is a Military Veteran.
Served in the New South Wales Military Force 1899-1901
1st Field Hospital

In 1891 he joined the New South Wales Army Medical Corps as a Captain, attached to the New South Wales Lancers; in 1896 he was with the Italian army in Abyssinia, being appointed Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell'Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro (Knights Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus) and the Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia (Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy) for his services. After visiting Italy, he returned home through the United States of America, where he studied advances in aseptic and abdominal surgery. In 1897 he moved his practice to 149 Macquarie Street, Sydney.

In 1899-1901 he commanded the New South Wales 1st Field Hospital with General Hutton's brigade in South Africa. For services at Paardeberg he was Mentioned in Despatches and was appointed Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and when he returned to Sydney he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in the newly-formed Australian Military Forces (AMC). In 1902 Thomas became honorary surgeon to the governor general, and later consulting honorary surgeon to the Sydney Hospital, and examiner in clerical surgery to the University of Sydney. In 1909 he was appointed chairman of the board of medical studies at Sydney Hospital. He was promoted to Colonel in 1911, and appointed principal medical officer of the Second Military District of the Commonwealth.

Thomas Fiaschi DSO VD MD is an Anzac who served in World War One.

After the wedding, the couple boarded a transport for England and the First World War. Fiaschi broke all kinds of rules by taking his wife, under her maiden name and pretending to be single; until time to deliver their first child! They had four daughters, two of whom survived infancy: Eliza Vickery (1915-97); Unnamed Fiaschi (1916-16); Giulia Fiaschi (1917-17); and Olivia McCarthy (1919-2002).

Thomas Fiaschi DSO

During the war he was commanding officer of the 3rd Australian General Hospital on Lemnos Island, and at Alexandria, England and France. He and Amy returned home in 1917, with their young daughter, and he retired from military service as an honorary Brigadier General.

Thomas was a viticulturist and vigneron: Tizzana Vineyards

Next to his professional work came his passionate love of the soil—for agriculture particularly. He liked nothing better than to be associated with the men of the primary industries, and they esteemed him profoundly too, for, as a viticulturist and vigneron—he was proprietor of the well known Tizzana vineyards—he helped to develop the wine industry in Australia. In 1882, Thomas bought 230 acres at Sackville Reach. Having always believed in the medicinal qualities of wine, he turned 54 acres of the property to vines. By 1889 he was producing 9,000 gallons and took out 1st, 2nd and 3rd places at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. He was a member of the Australian Wine Producers' Association of New South Wales.^[2]

He was one of the foundation members of the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association (NSW); for many years he was president of the Australasian Trained Nurses' Association. For many years and to the time of his death he was president of the New South Wales Wine Association; he was a member of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales; and old member of the Royal Society of New South Wales. For seven years he was surgeon to the Windsor Hospital and there he did pioneer work in listerian surgery.^[3]

Thomas passed away, aged 73 years, on 17th April 1927 at Darling Point, New South Wales, Australia and was buried in Waverley Cemetery. The Doctors Fiaschi, father and son are commemorated by a life-sized bronze replica of the famous Florentine Porcellino monument, outside Sydney Hospital, which was donated in 1967 to the city by the Marchesa Torrigiani, Thomas' eldest daughter.

Il Porcellino, Sydney Hospital

Il Porcellino plaque to the Doctors Fiaschi

A book entitled 'Shut Out from the World' has many mentions of the Fiaschi's, in particular their friendliness to First Nation People. His first wife Katherine Reynolds (Sister Mary Regis from Sisters of Charity order) taught many Aboriginal people to play musical instruments. Her husband Thomas encouraged many of his Aboriginal vineyard workers to win rowing regattas that he had organised in Lower Portland.

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #200/1876
2. ↑ 'Fiaschi, Thomas Henry (1853–1927)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 11 Jul 2019
3. ↑ 'Fiaschi, Thomas Henry (1853–1927)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 11 Jul 2019

• Walsh, G P. 'Fiaschi, Thomas Henry (1853–1927)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; published first in hardcopy 1981, accessed online 11 Jul 2019.
• The Fiaschi's of Tizzana; accessed 12 Jul 2019.

Book; 'Shut Out from the World, The Aborigines Reserve and Mission 1889-1946' by Jack Brook, 2nd Edition published by Derrubbin Press