This editor is a and is entitled to display this Iron Editor Star.
My editorship of Wikipedia reflects a desire to contribute to the wealth of beneficial public, freely accessible information. I am a journalist, writing for a community newspaper called the City Hub, and have been published by the Daily Telegraph and the former's sister masthead the Star Observer. Further, I have self-published articles in my personal journal named Pontifications. I wrote extensively for my university's student newspaper Honi Soit.
Once a priest, always a priest; once a Mason, always a Mason; but once a journalist, always and for ever a journalist. — Rudyard Kipling
Sometimes it is necessary to cull content to improve the encyclopaedia, but likewise it is sometimes necessary to substantially improve content with the addition of easily located sources and rewriting.
Wikipedia contributors are spread too thin, with there being about 54 articles for every active editor. It would be ideal to have more editors, but equally important is adhering to good editorial standards, ensuring the content we compose is well-written and appropriately sourced – and not overly time-sensitive.
Like a sizeable number of Britons, I am descended from King Edward III. One 2024 estimate projected that over four million were descended from him, whereas a differing 2021 projection was that two million were descended from his grandfather Edward I. The former, Edward III, is my 21st great-grandfather; Queen Isabella, Regent of England is my 22nd great grandmother; Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Stafford is my 19th great-grandmother; et. cetera. I am hence related to every monarch on the English and thereafter British thrones from Henry VII; this includes the currently reigning King Charles III, my 21st cousin thrice removed.
During her regency, Isabella established peace between England and Scotland. During Edward III's reign, he established the Order of the Garter, and a consensus emerged that in order for a tax to be just, the monarch had to prove its necessity, it had to be granted by the Parliament, and it had to be to the benefit of the community.
The Bourchiers, who connect me to the royals, were a noble family. Lady Cecilia Bourchier – daughter of John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath and Lady Eleanor Manners-Bourchier, Second Countess of Bath – is my 14th great-grandmother.
Ensign Thomas Washer, a soldier, pioneer English settler in Virginia and founding member of the Virginia legislature, is my twelfth great-granduncle. Washer was the son of Reverend William Washer, himself the son of Lady Bourchier.
My first direct ancestor to arrive in Australia was the magistrate William Broughton, who arrived on the First Fleet and was hence one of the original British settlers in Australia; he was the first settler in Appin. Another early arrival is the convict Ann Glossop, who reached Sydney in 1792 and later sadly perished in the Boyd massacre of 1809 in New Zealand. Sarah Heathern Broughton, daughter of the two born in 1799, was a currency lass – one of the first generation of native-born Anglo-Celtic Australians.
The pioneer settler and explorer Charles Throsby Smith arrived into Sydney on 16 April 1816, residing for a short while at Glenfield Farm. He led the first British expedition to the area which is now the capital city, Canberra. He and Sarah Broughton Smith were the first settlers in Wollongong. C. T. Smith is regarded as the city's founder.
I am pleased by the liberal and kind demeanour which I have learned belonged to these ancestors.
I have a very tenuous familial connection to one of my greatest historical interests, the Australian branch of the Wentworths. Sarah and William Charles Wentworth are the great-grandparents of the wife of the fourth cousin of the husband of my first cousin thrice removed. Between the Wentworths and I are the Walkers and the Sellwoods, or 21 people and two marriages. Another connection to the Wentworths is by way of John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, my 16th great-grandfather, separately married to Elizabeth Wentworth, daughter of Anne Say and Sir Henry Wentworth. Meanwhile, Jane Seymour, Queen of England, was the daughter of Elizabeth's sister Margery.
Concerning Wollstonecraft's strong republicanism and negative outlook toward landed wealth, it is fitting to read her essay within a close time frame of Disraeli's Sybil, a book which impresses me with its feminist themes and representations of powerful women. Both Wollstonecraft and Disraeli, from very different perspectives, paint compelling pictures representative of the lives and lifestyles of those they write about.
Numerous of Rudyard Kipling's short stories published in Twenty-One Tales and elsewhere
Baa Baa, Black Sheep; On the City Wall; On Greenhow Hill; The Finest Story in the World; A Matter of Fact; The Bridge-Builders; The Brushwood Boy; They; An Habitation Enforced
Numerous of Kipling's poems, including Late Came the God, The Appeal, The Song of the Lathes, The Virginity, The Nurses, Our Lady of the Snows, If–, et. cetera
Resurrected the articles for Lilyfield and Wentworth Park light rail stations whilst attempting to better integrate light rail at heavy rail stations (see Dulwich Hill). All light rail station articles were replaced with redirects after remaining published for some months, but it is my belief that these articles will be resurrected again in future.
The authoring of the article for the Hunter River Railway Company was an interesting task, combining my love of history – in this case, Australian colonial history – with my love of railways. More specifically, it combined my fascination with railways with my affinity for the colonial-era statesman William Charles Wentworth, who I have discovered was among many other things something of a railway pioneer like his great-grandson. Articles I've written about railways in Sydney and most particularly in the Inner West where I reside also reflect a convergence of interests!
In addition to my regular contributions to a local masthead, and self-published pieces:
Thorpe, W. T. (16 January 2026). Travelling Far? Take The Train! On country railways, coaches and trainspotting. Sydney. ISBN979-8242273313.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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