Life circumstances stemming from the death of his father in 1945 led Max away from the Orange area of New South Wales in his early teenage years. As a result, he lost contact with many family members over the ensuing decades. His marriage to Margaret in 1967 spurred him to try and relocate, and reconnect with, family in the Orange area. After a number of failed attempts, he was able to locate the family farm at Waldegrave and thus his cousin Norm who operated the farm. This led to a re-connection with family and an interest in their shared history.
During the 1970s and 1980s Max spent many hours researching the family history. In a time before DNA tests, the internet and online genealogy databases, and email and social media, Max visited and interviewed family members, visited libraries and other sources of historic documents, and drew on records of births, deaths and marriages to construct the history.
In 1988 Max self-published his work, and as was the generosity of the man, made copies available for the cost of reproduction alone. His work, The Descendants of Henry Thomas – The History of Henry and Elizabeth Thomas and their family, has now been made available by Max’s family in honour of him and his work.