Estelle Thomson was the daughter of George Comrie-Smith, photographer and artist, and Ethel, nee Thomson. Both her parents were keen naturalists. Estelle's early love of nature was inspired by family visits to the Scottish Highlands and the Lakes District of Cumberland. She was educated at Calder House School at Seascale, Cumberland, and later at a school of physical culture at Dartford, Kent. Estelle was a teacher of physical culture and eurhythmics before her marriage in Glasgow in 1917 to her second cousin, the Queensland surveying engineer Aubrey Frederick Thomson (formerly von Stieglitz), then serving with the Australian Army in Europe during the First World War.

In 1919 Estelle and Aubrey Thomson arrived in Brisbane, later to be followed by her parents. They settled on a farm, Wombo, at Eight Mile Plains south of Brisbane, where they raised poultry and small crops until forced to abandon the venture in 1923. The then unspoilt bush of Eight Mile Plains made a lasting impression on Estelle and she became an active member of the Queensland Naturalists' Club from the 1920s. Estelle was vice-president in 1929-30 and president in 1930-31. She was to spend the rest of her life awakening public appreciation of Australian wildflowers, while also raising her four children.

Sources used to compile this entry: McKay, Judith, Brilliant Careers - Women collectors and illustrators in Queensland, Queensland Museum Publication, South Brisbane, 1997; Mittelheuser, Dr Cathryn AM, Early Days of Brisbane Lyceum, Lyceum Club Brisbane Incorporated, Lyceum Club Brisbane Incorporated, Brisbane, 2006, http://www.lyceumbrisbane.org.au/History.htm.