Australia / Thailand: Edward Thomas 'Teddy' Miles (1849-1944), introduced tin dredging to Phuket in 1906

MILES, EDWARD THOMAS (1849-1944), merchant seaman, politician and entrepreneur, was born on 24 June 1849 at Hobart Town, Tasmania.

A dapper man with a neat spade beard, Teddy Miles was quick and decisive in his business methods and not unprepared to bend the law to suit himself. His company soon absorbed its main rival, the Launceston & North-West Coast Steam Navigation Co., and in 1896 sold out at a profit to the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand. In 1898 Miles moved to Strahan to manage his considerable property investments and that year became first master warden of the Strahan Marine Board.

in Siam (Thailand) Miles gained the Tongkah Harbour Concession Agreement for working tin deposits on Phuket Island, in return for which he constructed a deep-water dock and shipping channel. In 1906 he helped to float the Tongkah Harbour Tin Dredging Co. Ltd in Hobart and was appointed general manager. A bucket dredge, constructed in Scotland to Miles's design, was assembled at Penang, Malay Peninsula, in December 1907; then Miles took command of the steamer Padang, to tow the uninsured dredge 200 miles (322 km) across open sea to the work site. The enterprise, continued by Miles's sons, laid the foundation of the modern Thai tin-mining industry.

In 1909 Miles settled at Ringwood, Victoria, where he owned orchards and other property. He retired from the Tongkah Harbour Co. board in 1911 but was for many years managing director of companies operating at Ranong, Siam. An imposing monument to his tin-mining work was unveiled on Phuket Island in 1969.

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