A glance at the sidebar of this family history reveals one of the most remarkable aspects of this line of the Murray-Priors: the tradition of naming the eldest son Thomas. It started with the Prior family, with the first known Thomas Prior living in the early 1300s, as described in priors_in_england. Some 300 years later, another Thomas Prior moved to Ireland and, with his son Thomas, established the family there - see priors_in_ireland_1636-c.1803. The most famous in the family, another Thomas (Tom) Prior , left a will which ensured the surname became Murray Prior/Murray-Prior. After that, there was a John and an Andrew Murray-Prior, then Thomas Murray-Prior, born in 1773. Since then, there has been an unbroken line of elder sons called Thomas. Perhaps as remarkable, given the past's high infant mortality, is that all those Thomases survived to reach adulthood and become a parent. Tom and Lillian M-P's descendants continued the tradition of naming their first son Thomas. It is a tradition that has resulted in the third Thomas Lodge M-P, and nine generations of an unbroken line of Thomas Murray-Priors.

Tom and Lillian had four children, of whom two survived infancy.

Though we try to avoid biographies of living M-Ps, there are two photographs which are in the public domain. One, from the National Archives of Australia, is a photo of Thomas A. M-P c.1960. It is captioned 'Singapore student, Manoharan Ponnusamy, in special Cuban dress, plays the bongo drums watched by medical students George Wells, left, and Tom Murray-Prior at Queensland University', click on students. The other photo, from the Fryer Library (University of Queensland) Miscellaneous Photograph Collection¹⁾ was taken in Brisbane, 1960 and is captioned, 'University of Queensland Inter-College Rowing Champions' with Tom Murray-Prior 3rd from left in 2nd back row.

Richard John (12 June 1945 - 8 December 2001) was remembered in his eulogy as a 'family member, friend, pilot, prawn spotter, Torres Strait Island trader, and … Palm Island businessman…. an adventurous, kind, swashbuckling and at times crazy kind of bloke …[who could] tell the greatest stories … Always positive, always working hard … People were drawn to him. He was a terrific host, loved his wine and his dinner parties and was an excellent cook'.

This vibrant man was born at his parents' home in Leura in the Blue Mountains.²⁾ As outlined in his parents' entry, when Richard was young the family moved first to Southport then to Bundaberg. When he was around 12 or 13 years old, the family moved to Cairns. Apart from a brief, unhappy period boarding at Brisbane Boys' College, he went to Cairns High School where he excelled at Maths and English.

Richard as a baby and toddler When a child, he suffered from glomerulonephritis, a disease of the kidneys.

Richard M-P with his elder brother: the first photo was taken in July 1948, the next in c.late 1950s.

On leaving school, Richard's adventurous spirit saw him going west to become a ‘jackaroo’, first on Dotswood Station near Charters Towers. His boss at Dotswood had a profound effect on Richard and they formed a lifelong friendship. He then moved to Warwombie and Wongalee near Hughenden. It was while working there that he met his future wife, Ilma Murphy, who was then a teacher in Hughenden. Richard and Illma married on 7 January 1967. They had a son and daughter, who in turn have four children.

Richard turned 20 in 1965, a year after Australia introduced compulsory national service for 20-year-old males, and the year before conscripts could be sent to fight in the Vietnam War. He was rejected on health grounds as his kidneys were damaged from his childhood illness. He also had an irregular-shaped iris which required him to wear sunglasses in the bright sunshine. At the time he regretted not having the opportunity to experience Army life overseas.

Richard returned to Cairns in the mid-1966 to work in his father’s business. Richard's charismatic personality meant that he was liked by people from all walks of life. One consequence was that he became President of the newly-formed Cairns Businessman’s Club. In January 1967, he and Ilma married. They stayed in Cairns, Richard in his father's business and Ilma teaching.

An older Richard. Richard the proud grandfather