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Mary Reibey

Mary Reibey was brought to Australia as a convict and is now widely respected for her success as a businesswoman in the early colony. Mary Reibey was born in Lancashire, England, as Molly Haydock in 1777. After both of her parents had passed away, she was living with her grandmother. According to some sources, Mary was just taking a ‘joyride’ on a neighbour’s pony when, at the age of thirteen, she was convicted of horse stealing at Stafford. After she was sentenced to seven years’ transportation, she arrived in Sydney on the Royal Admiral in 1792. An excerpt of a transcript of a letter which 15-year-old Mary wrote to her aunt in England while still on board the ship in Botany Bay is shown here:

“But I will make my self as happy as I Can In my Pressent and unhappy situation…”

Please note: the spelling has not been corrected.*

*Source: State Library of NSW

Subsequently, Mary was engaged as a nursemaid in the household of Major Francis Grose. Two years later, at the age of 17, Mary married Thomas Reibey, a young Irishman whom she had originally met on the transport.

While Thomas was involved in several enterprises, Mary looked after their children and also managed her husband’s business affairs in the periods when he was absent. After Thomas passed away in 1811, Mary continued to look after their seven children and took on the sole responsibility for their property and a range of commercial trading activities which Thomas had been undertaking. Mary expanded the shipping fleet and acquired more property.

In Mary Reibey’s journal of 1820–1821, she records her revisit to the place of her original home in England in joyful terms. Here is an excerpt:

Entries from Mary Reibey’s journal, 1820–1821

20 June 1820

‘It is impossible to describe the sensation I felt when coming to the top of Dorwen Street my native home and amongst my Relatives and on entering my once Grandmothers House where I had been brought up, and to find it nearly the same as when I left nearly 29 years ago all the same furniture most of them standing in the same place as when I left but not one person I knew of knew me, but was fully requited by my Cousin Miss Alice Hope who was in expectation of our coming, her and Miss Ward (an old acquaintance of all the family) met us at the Door with all the affection and love of a sister.’

22 December 1820

‘Set out for Bury Mr Hargreaves taking me in his gig [a small carriage] to a place called Openshowfold where I found my old nurse and her husband who was both so gratified they hardly knew how to contain themselves with joy. The old Lady said she was sure she could not have rested in her grave had she not have seen me they said they was both in their eighty first year of their age and both looked as if they would live 20 years longer – we went on to Bury about a mile further where we put up at the Grey Mare an Inn about 20 yards from where my mother lived in the wild but all those Houses had been pulled down to make improvements to the Church. … Mrs Hargreaves and I went to the old Church at Bury to procure the Certificate of my age the Clerk and I looked through the Register Book of parchment and I decisioned at first I was Born in the year of our Lord 1777, May 12th and christened 29th.’

Note: Mary’s spelling and grammatical errors have not been corrected.*

Upon her retirement, Mary Reibey lived in a house in Newtown, which she built. She passed away in 1855 from pneumonia. Overall, Mary Reibey is remembered for her business acumen and her works of charity, church and education. In recognition, she is now featured on the Australian twenty-dollar note, which has been in print since 1994, and also on the replacement design issued since 2019. In 2001, Mary Reibey was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Sources: *State Library of NSW and Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales