Richard Thompson was sentenced to fourteen years transportation to New South Wales for theft. After arriving in the colony he was sent to Port Macquarie. In the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Thompson, R. L. Knight writes that Thompson 'published a brief account of the geography and geology of north-eastern Australia' during his time at Port Macquarie.
Thompson received a ticket-of-leave in 1840 and a pardon in 1842 after which he worked on newspapers in the Port Phillip district and in 1843 moved to Sydney. In Sydney, according to a report on a libel case concerning Thompson, published in the Morning Chronicle (28 February 1846): 2, Thompson 'wrote some of the chief political articles for the Australian, projected and edited the Atlas ... afterwards edited the Commercial Journal and the Examiner ... and [became] the proprietor of the Spectator.' Victor Crittenden in 'The Three Editors of The Atlas, a Sydney Journal 1844 - 1849', Margin 75 (July/August 2008): 5, describes Richard Thompson as '...the 'official' editor [of The Atlas] ... a little known man ... who took the blame for what was published.' This may have been Thompson's role for much of his career as a newspaper editor and journalist.
Thompson represented the editor of the Atlas, Robert Lowe, until a difference of opinion caused Thompson's resignation in March 1845. He went on to edit the Spectator, owned by squatting interests, and after the cessation of the Spectator was appointed editor of the Australian in 1847 by Benjamin Boyd. The collapse of Boyd's business interests brought about the demise of the Australian and according to R. L. Knight 'Thompson's career as a journalist seems to have foundered.'
Thompson edited Report of the Proceedings at the National Banquet Held at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Sydney, on the 17th of July, 1856, to Celebrate the Establishment and Inauguration of Responsible Government in the Colony of New South Wales (1856) and 'dabbled in the theatre in Sydney, furnishing scripts, translating librettos, and acting as critic.' R. L. Knight concludes that the 'pages of the publications which [Thompson] edited reveal him as a skilful though unoriginal poet and an able editor.'
Sources: Knight, R. L., 'Thompson, Richard (1810-1865)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thompson-richard-2729/text3849, accessed 29 August 2012; Victor Crittenden, 'The Three Editors of The Atlas, a Sydney Journal 1844 - 1849', Margin 75 (July/August 2008): 5.
