Family background
Thomas Richard Pracey (also Pracy) was born on 12 February 1908 in Waterloo, NSW, son of Thomas Richard Pracy, a carter, and Mary Stone. He married Maud (‘Millie’) Maria Ryan on 12 July 1930 in Sydney and they had 5 children. He lived on Phillip Street, Waterloo (1949).
Pracey died on 16 May 1985, aged 77 years and was cremated at Rookwood Crematorium.
Occupation & interests
Thomas Pracey was described as a man of many parts. Apart from his civic role he had been a horse trainer, specifically for harness racing (‘the trots’), and a dabbler in various commodities from real estate to costly gems and motor cars.
In April 1949, he was fined £410 for failing to comply with court orders to furnish tax returns from 1944 to 1947. For the year 1943, he had given his occupation as a driver and watchman. The taxation department claimed that they had information that Pracey owned a prized trotter named ‘Lachlan Jimmy’ which had been valued at £500 and ‘disappeared from his stables’. Pracey’s defence counsel noted Pracey had been ‘ill for the last year and before that he had been worried about the sickness in his of his family.’
In August 1949 his estate was sequestered as he had not paid the fine. He filed for bankruptcy the following month and at his hearing explained that he previously had more than 20 horses under his care and had lost on the sale of several horses. Another horse, Red Royal, died a fortnight after he purchased it. According to his testimony, he donated more than £1,200 to the Police Boys’ Club while mayor, and also to pensioners. In addition he had bought diamonds worth about £4,000 and had borrowed £20,000 for his real estate investments.
Pracey was given a three year good behaviour bond in March 1953 after he had pleaded guilty to five charges of false pretences (cashing five cheques with a Waterloo shopkeeper).
Local government service
Thomas Pracey was an alderman on Waterloo Council in 1946-48. He was mayor in 1948, described in the Daily Mirror newspaper as the ‘youngest mayor in the history of the district.’
References
‘Municipal Nominations’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 November 1947, p. 17, http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18049869
‘Ex-Mayor (Broke) Claims Trotting as his Waterloo’, Truth 2 October 1949, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168966029
‘Ex-Mayor Tells How He ‘Sent Off’ £14,000′, Truth, 23 October 1949, p. 13, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168961806