Thomas wrote music as a living. Apart from his need for income to support his family he had a great love for composing and spent much of his time at the piano working on his music. He wrote under many pseudonyms and it is difficult now to identify all his work. Some of the better known names he used are Godfrey Parker, Henri Laski, Pat Cooney and Eugene Lecosta. These are but a few of the names used. He also created arrangements for brass and military bands of the works of other composers; some from opera and the classics such as
Meyerbeer, Weber and Rossini; others from the works of popular contemporary composers of his day such as Carl Volti (a pseudonym for Glaswegian violinist Archibald Milligan) and Charles le Thiere (a pseudonym for London-based composer and conductor Thomas Wilby Tomkins) occasionally leading to the names of such to be occasionally mistakenly conflated with that of Bulch himself. He wrote and dedicated compositions to all the female members of his family. For his wife, he dedicated the music and song “
My Darling Wife” and a
waltz “
My Polly”. His eldest daughter Adeline had the compositions titled “
Little Dark Eyes” and “
Adelina” written for her. His second daughter, Myrtle May had a waltz “
Les Fleurs D’Australie” (Flowers of Australia) dedicated to her, and the names of Myrtle and Adeline were combined to name a waltz “
Myrine”. His youngest daughter Alice had her name combined with that of her husband Norman (Johnson) to title a waltz “
Noralla” and a
mazurka using her name as the title, “
Alice Bertha”. The composition “
Craigielee” composed by Thomas (using the pen name Godfrey Parker) is said to have a connection with the music of “
Waltzing Matilda”. It has been written that a Christina MacPherson heard it being played at the
Warrnambool Races in 1894. She later played it from memory in
Queensland and
Banjo Paterson put words to it. Thomas was in contact with his wife's grandmother Elizabeth Paterson during her lifetime. She had emigrated to Australia and lived at
Inglewood in
Victoria. Her maiden name was Craigie and he composed and dedicated the march “
Craigielee” to her as a tribute using the name Godfrey Parker as the composer. Thomas had made a practice of writing and dedicating music to all the female members of the family. In discussion with Adeline Bulch several years after her father's death she mentioned the soldiers returning from France whistling a popular song that she said was set to her father's music. This she identified as “
Waltzing Matilda”. She also said that a woman had written to her father requesting permission to use the music, as she wanted to put words to it. Thomas had replied that he no longer had copyright of the music. It is widely thought that Thomas based Craigielee on
James Barr's setting of
Robert Tannahill's poem “''Thou Bonnie Wood o' Craigielee
” (now commonly spelled as “Craigielea
”). The tune of “Waltzing Matilda''” is similar to Barr's melody and to Bulch's composition. ==Critical reception==