One of Australia's founding mothers.....

Mary was born on 5th October 1777 in Southwark, London. She was christened on 21st December 1777 at St Olaves Bermondsey. She died on 17th December 1859 aged 82, at Fairy Meadow, NSW and is buried at St Pauls Church of England Cemetery, Wollongong, NSW.

Her trial was on 14th January 1789, where she was sentenced to death for stealing a frock from an 8 year old girl. Mary was 11 at the time. She spent 93 days in the infamous Newgate prison before being transported on the Lady Juliana (Second Fleet) for an 11 month voyage across the ocean to Sydney, where she arrived on 3rd June 1790. She was then sent on to Norfolk Island on the Surprise, arriving on 7th August 1790.

She had 2 children on Norfolk Island - Sarah in 1793 and William in 1795 (believed to be Jonathan Brooker's son). When they came back to Australia, Mary lived with Teague Harrigan and they had a son, Edward, in their tent on the banks of the Tank Stream in Sydney in 1803. Teague left to go on a whaling expedition in 1806 and never returned.

Mary later lived with Jonathan Brooker, having more children. There is no record of them having married. They were given their Certificates of Emancipation in 1811 and 1812 and eventually settled in Airds with their family. Life on the land was difficult and their property and crops were lost in 1823 in a bushfire.

The family became destitute and pleaded to the Governor of the time, Governor Brisbane, for aid. They eventually resettled in the Corrimal area of Illawarra. Jonathan died in 1833 and Mary lived for another 26 years, remaining in the Illawarra area.

The graveyard Mary was buried in was made into a rest park. The tombstones were laid flat on their graves and covered with soil. Lawn was laid over the area and roses were planted. The area has a low stone wall around it and the entrance has a plaque which reads " City of Wollongong, Erected to the Memory of Pioneers of this District, Who Here Lie at Rest."

At the time of her death, Mary had over 300 living descendants. She is therefore known affectionately as one of the founding mothers of Australia.


Sources of further information

There is a book called The Floating Brothel which talks about the Lady Juliana and briefly mentions Mary. This was recently made into a tv documentary. There is also a book called Mary Wade To Us and it has the family trees of many of her descendants up to the early 1980s.

There is a certificate of emancipation for Mary on the NSW state records. The date of emancipation was 01/09/1812 page 334 Item [4/4427]. There are also some records for her husband Jonathan Brooker.