THORA FRANCES NICOLSON – A pioneer of tourism.

Her island home of Lindeman

Thora was born in Sarina on April 18 1917, one of five children. She grew up on the family sugar cane property near Sarina. She was a bright student with an aptitude for numbers and upon completing high school, worked in the office of Frendeley Motors in Mackay. During this time, she learned to drive but on a weekend jaunt to Eimeo, drove a truck up a coconut tree, and never took the wheel again.

On a holiday on Lindeman Island in 1936, Thora met future husband, Lachlan DeSalis Nicolson, whose family owned the resort there. They married on September 18, 1947 in Mackay after Lach’s discharge from service in the Australian Navy during World War Two. She moved to Lindeman where Lach built her a house above the resort. They had two children – Roy and Niels.

Thora applied boundless, characteristic energy, balancing family and business commitments – raising and home schooling the children until of boarding school age, fulfilling her role as company director and secretary, managing the island boutique and souvenir shop, ensuring guests’ needs were met and travelling on promotional tours with Lach.

A skilled seamstress, Thora sewed curtains and soft furnishing for the resort suites and made her own island-style wardrobe. She spent considerable hours creating and designing for the Coral Queen Festival when islands competed for the coveted Coral Queen Crown.

A highlight for Thora and Lach was the 1959 visit by Princess Alexandra of Kent.  A special Royal Suite was made up for her. In gratitude for their hospitality, the couple was invited to her wedding at Westminster Abbey London, on April 24 1963.

In 1979, Lach and Thora, the last of the Nicolson family involved in the business, retired but continued to live in their home (under a life estate agreement). Finally, there was time to spend with their sons; time to relax and go boating. There were many visitors – former staff, guests, skippers and boating crew who remembered their generosity.  

Sadly, on October 4 1980, when returning from an award ceremony in Brisbane where Lach was invested an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to tourism, a car accident took his life. He was sixty-five. Thora was badly injured, but on recovering returned to Lindeman Island staying in her home until 1998, when ill health required her to move to Sydney with son, Roy.

Following the tragic event, Thora wrote two volumes of poetry about love and loss, Lindeman Island and its natural beauty. One of these volumes, ‘Island Verses’ is on sale at the museum.  

In 1986, she supported several successful protests against a Queensland Government move to rescind the island’s national park status and open it up to private freehold development, including a large airport.  To Thora, this would have been a disaster, completely destroying her natural treasure.

Thora refused to leave midst major refurbishment and expansion of the resort during the 1990s which necessitated its closure and limited transport to the mainland. In her front room, looking across the idyllic waters and islands, Thora made sure new owners, the Adelstein family and later Club Med, consulted her on their plans.

As an amateur historian and writer, Thora preserved a trove of historical documents which she shared with those researching local history such as Ray Blackwood, writer of “The Whitsunday Islands – An Historical Dictionary”.

The resort always employed First Nations Islander people and Thora looked out for the welfare of the women. In 2002, these women honoured her by forming a guard of honour at her funeral as her coffin was carried from the church.

Thora Point on the northern side of Lindeman is named after Thora. It is a special place where she often retreated with family to escape the pressures of the resort but also testament to the way others held her in high regard for her services to tourism.

Story and photo courtesy Proserpine Historical Museum and the Nicolson family.

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