Al Finegan

EPISODE 4 - A BIG FAMILY By: Al Finegan

In July 1790, convict Mary Ann Wade, not yet thirteen years old, had been working till she dropped, seven days a week since her arrival six weeks previously, tending to the sick and dying in the crude hospital in the burgeoning colony of Sydney. She had no idea what her future would be, or where she would be sent. Then finally, towards the end of the month, she was told that she was one of the women to be sent to Norfolk Island. Governor Phillip had demanded one ship of the Second Fleet be contracted to transport the women and their children to the Island. Surprise was made available, and Justina, the store ship, would accompany her with much needed supplies. Just as Sydney had been, Norfolk Island was in the grip of starvation. On 31st July 1790 Mary Wade boarded the Surprise and sailed out of Sydney Harbour along with 149 women with their children, the great majority of them still unspoken for and many pregnant. After the First Fleet had arrived at Port Jackson in January 1788, Phillip ordered Lieutenant Philip Gidley King to lead a party of 15 convicts and seven free men to take control of Norfolk Island and prepare it for its commercial development. They arrived on 6th March 1788. During the first year of the settlement, more convicts and soldiers were sent to the island from NSW including the first female convicts. Immediately on their arrival Commandant Gidley King had first choice of the women and selected Ann Inett to be his housekeeper. Ann, who later ran a successful business was described as an attractive woman, small framed, dark haired, industrious, and with a neat and clean appearance. On 8th January 1789, she delivered the first child to be born on the island who was named Norfolk King. A year later Ann had a second child. Several years later, Gidley King arranged for his sons to be sent to England to be educated, and both went on to become distinguished Royal Navy officers. The birth of the settlement on Norfolk Island was not a happy one. The Island suffered from the lack of any suitable cove for ships to anchor and discharge their cargoes. It was surrounded by a coral reef, and out from the reef, it was a sheer drop to the deep ocean floor making it impossible for ships to anchor safely. Over the years, this led to many disasters causing loss of life and stores. The previous March, HMS Sirius had been wrecked on a reef losing all its stores and stranding its entire crew on the Island, leaving the colony desperately short of food, further exacerbated by the doubling of the population.

The Surprise death rate during the Second Fleet voyage was high, and the general conditions aboard were so bad the vessel became known as one of the “Hell Ships” of the Second Fleet. The weeklong trip across to Norfolk Island was not pleasant, yet Mary made the trip without complaint. It was Mary's introduction to Norfolk Island that was to be her most frightening experience when she observed the boat that had just landed her, while returning with the next group, capsize in the heavy surf. She watched on helplessly as seven of her friends struggled in the waves, then drowned, while the boat was smashed to pieces. No special provisions had been made to house female convicts. They were all immediately assigned to non-convict men, ostensibly as house servants, but in reality, as mistresses. Gardens for the growing of vegetables had been established to help the serious food position that had developed. Mary, assigned to a soldier as a house servant was soon hard at work in his garden. Mary continued working six days a week during all daylight hours for her soldier for the next year as the colony struggled to feed itself. At one stage a plague of caterpillars invaded the gardens of the island and for about a month, she spent every daylight hour plucking them off her plants and stomping on them. A year later, two men arrived on Norfolk who were to have a

profound effect on the rest of Mary’s life. They were Jonathan Brooker and Teague Harrigan. Both had been sentenced to seven years. Harrigan came originally from Cork, Ireland and arrived on 4th September 1791 and Brooker, originally from Kent, England a few weeks later. Unfortunately, all records of events for the next four years were lost in a fire. The best that can be ascertained is that Mary developed a relationship with both these men and gave birth to two children, Sarah, in 1793 and William in 1795. Given the extreme hardships in survival on Norfolk Island at that time, it was likely Mary kept both men at her beck and call to provide her with a roof over her head and food for her, and subsequently, her children. Her true strength of character would have emerged and been developed during her time on Norfolk. Mary had seen the power that women could exercise over men on her voyage to Australia, and the shortage of women on Norfolk allowed her to use her youth and beauty for survival. Given the lifelong doubt over the fatherhood of her two children, and Mary’s reluctance to ever name the father, it is almost certain she was maintaining an intimate relationship with both men. Many years later when asked, Jonathan simply said that he was either the father or stepfather of all of Mary's children. The death certificate of the first child, Sarah Wade does name Jonathan as her father. By 1800, Mary and both her men were back in Sydney. Mary had spent her entire teenage years on the island, using her considerable guile and strength of character to survive. The contrast of her relationships with her two men was apparent. The wild Irishman Harrigan appealed to her, and she clearly loved this man. On the other hand, Brooker was a steady reliable man, and a professional carpenter by trade. On arrival in Sydney, Mary decided to live with Harrigan. At the same time, Jonathan Brooker is recorded as working for Doctor Balmain at Parramatta. Mary and Teague did it tough for the next four years, living in a tent next to the Tank Stream with her two children. In 1803 Mary gave birth to another child as the baptismal record at St. Phillips, Sydney shows. Edward Harrigan, son of Teague Harrigan and Mary Wade, was born 1803 and baptised 1804. The life in a tent with three young children was not what Teague saw as his future. In 1806 he left on a whaling expedition. By 1817 he was living in Port Dalrymple, Tasmania. In 1825, he was granted land near the Tamar River in Launceston. He never returned to the mainland, and Mary never heard from him again. Mary, the great survivor, realised she was on her own and survival was now problematic for her and her three children. She tracked down Jonathon Brooker and they agreed to a long-term relationship. They applied successfully for a land grant and built a home near the Hawkesbury River. would arrive, destroying their crops while they struggled to rescue any stock they had managed to accumulate. They decided they had to move. Jonathon was given his Certificate of Freedom in February 1811 and given a grant of 60 acres by Governor Macquarie. Mary received her Certificate of Freedom on the 1st September 1812. In 1816 they settled on the property at Airds in Campbelltown with their ever-increasing family. Mary decided to formalise her relationship with Jonathon, and they married on 10th February 1817 at St Lukes, Liverpool. Jonathon worked tirelessly, and with Mary at his side they built a new home on their land. Jonathon used his carpentry skills to develop a profitable business making furniture. By 1823 things were looking good for the Brooker family, until a raging bushfire swept it all away. It destroyed their home and Jonathan's livelihood as a cabinetmaker. His shed and

all his tools were destroyed. The family became destitute and pleaded to Governor Thomas Brisbane, for aid. Governor Brisbane was a good man and granted them 62 acres in Illawarra. Once again Mary and Jonathan worked tirelessly, recovering to run another successful business. It was here that Mary raised her family which eventually numbered 21 children. Jonathan passed away on 14th March 1833. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church, Campbelltown. Mary continued to live on the Illawarra for a further quarter of a century, surrounded by her rapidly enlarging family. This formidable woman, Mary Ann Brooker, nee Wade, died on 17th December 1859 at the age of 82. Her funeral service was the very first to be held in St Paul's Church of England, Fairy Meadow. Her son, Edward Harrigan, donated the land on which the church was built and guaranteed the debt incurred in its construction. Parish records show that the first funeral service held in St. Paul's was his mother, Mary Ann Brooker. Over 300 direct descendants of Mary attended her funeral. One after the other, her children and grandchildren spoke in tears of their wonderful loving and caring mother. They all said that they always felt loved, and somehow, she always provided their needs of life. The Illawarra Mercury, in an obituary, saluted her as the founding mother of the largest family in Australia. Mary lived through difficult times, but such was her character, she survived the shock of a death sentence, separation from her family at the age of eleven, transportation across the seas for life, enduring the work of the horrors at the Sydney Hospital, a baby on Norfolk Island before she was sixteen, life in a tent back in Sydney, major floods on the Hawkesbury, and pioneering hardships at Airds until finally coming to rest on the Illawarra. I think we Australians can be proud of her. In 1984 a Mary Wade Muster was held at Campbelltown. From Emerald and Toowoomba in Queensland, to Melbourne and Ballarat in Victoria, from Moruya and Kangaloon, Dubbo and Lismore. Indeed, they came from everywhere! Over four hundred descendants of Mary Wade arrived to celebrate their incredible Founding Mother. Together they estimated that there were over ten thousand descendent spread all over Australia. Even one of our Prime Ministers, Kevin Rudd, is a descendant. By 2010 it was estimated that as many as 100,000 Australians could trace their ancestry back to a genuinely great pioneer, Mary Ann Wade. She truly set the benchmark for courage, resilience, tenacity, and drive to survive and succeed, despite whatever life threw at her.

The Hawkesbury had fertile flats but was prone to big floods. In mid-year 1809, the river had risen to 48 feet, and eight lives were lost. While the flood waters raged, Mary went into labour. Jonathon managed to take her across the river to the Windsor hospital where John was born on 24th June 1809. The early Hawkesbury settlers met considerable difficulties before mastering their property. Preparing their land for planting with primitive tools was exhausting. Mary, almost always pregnant, worked constantly with Jonathon in a heartbreaking endeavour. Just as they were making headway, another flood