Mary Callaghan, Bonnet made by Valerie Lapin Ganley's Sewing Bee in Pacifica, California.
Mary Callaghan Convict No.8182, police number 981 from Waterford. Mary was tried in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford in October 1848 for larceny (stealing a cloak, boots and a shawl). She was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation. Mary’s age is stated as being 26 years on some prison records (though no DOB), but this has been questioned following her death (see below).
Mary departed on the Maria on 5th April 1849 from Dublin, arriving in Hobart on the 23rd July 1849. She received her Certificate of Freedom on the 27th September 1856.
Mary married Thomas Hill, aged 40, on the 9th January 1854 in St John’s, Richmond. Thomas died from cancer on the 20th September 1876. Mary found love again, as a widow in her 60’s, and married William Crawley, aged 61, on the 20th May 1878, also in St John’s Church, Richmond. He passed away on the 8th November 1891.
Mary died on 10th June 1916, with her age being recorded as 101. Her DOB recorded as 4th March 1815. This information was found in 2 articles, which appeared in The Mercury Newspaper, 14th June 1916, p4 and 16th June 1916, p4.
“There passed away at Richmond on Saturday a very old resident, and possibly the oldest woman in Tasmania, in the person of Mrs. Mary Crawley, who had attained the great age of 102 years. Until a few days prior to her death, she had almost fully retained her faculties and conversed freely upon matters both past and present. She arrived in Tasmania in the late thirties and many of her reminiscences disclosed a very different atmosphère from the days in which we live. She was often visited by tourists passing through, and many of them learned a little of the early days of Tasmania from her.”
“The following additional particulars concerning Mrs. Mary Crawley, are of interest: - was born at Chatham Barracks on March 4, 1815, 100 days before the battle of Waterloo. Leaving Waterford, Ireland, in the "good"ship María, she first set foot on Tasmanian soil in the year 1849 at Hobart Town, as it was then called, here she entered the service of a builder, by name Blgç, whose establishment stood on the cite now occupied by the Highfield Hotel. Two years Inter (1851) she took up residence in Richmond, and immediately obtained employment at a Mr. Ash tmiro's. Tho deceased’s well-known personality had, therefore, graced that township for 65 years. She was twice married, her second husband having predeceased her by many years. The genial old soul was Richmond's second centenarian.
Research by Eleanor Murphy Roses from the Heart, Waterford 2023
References:
FCRC Female Convicts Van Diemen’s Land Database [online], available: https://itsfilemaker4.its.utas.edu.au/fmi/webd/Female_Convicts_in_VDL_database [accessed 1 October 2023].
The Mercury (1916) ‘Tasmanian Centenarian’s Death ’, volume 6, p.4. available: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1026827?searchTerm=mary%20crawley [accessed 3 October 2023].
The Mercury (1916) ‘The following additional particulars concerning Mrs. Mary Crawley’, volume 6, p.4. available: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1037545 [accessed 3 October 2023].