Thomas Allen: rogue, entrepreneur, publican, politician, farmer

Seated and holding a baby is Allen family patriarch and pioneer, Thomas, with sons, Thomas William (left) and John Charles. The look in the patriarch’s eyes is steely and determined. The baby is fourth generation, Thomas Allen, who became a first class cricketer and played Sheffield Shield cricket for Queensland in the 1930s and later his son Ross, also played cricket for Queensland in the 1960s. When publican of the Cricketers Arms Hotel in Drayton in the 1860s Thomas Allen liked nothing better than a cricket match on the land adjoining his pub which may have been on the site of today’s Earnest Peak Park. It seems the love of cricket was passed down through the generations.