Mary Wade was only 13 years old when transported to Australia as the youngest convict aboard as part of the Second Fleet. Her family grew to include five generations and over 300 descendants in her own lifetime.
Early years in London
Early researchers in the 1980s believed that Mary was born on 5 October 1777 at Southwark, London to Mary English and George Wade and then christened on 21 December 1777 at Saint Olave, Southwark, Surrey, England. A new group of researchers with wider access to records that were not previously available now believe that Mary was born 17 December 1775, St Margaret’s, Westminster, Middlesex and was baptised 7 January 1776, St Margaret’s, Westminster to Lawrence Wade and Mary Smith. Evidence for her new date of birth and parents include: 1) Her mother stated during the trial that she was born in December. 2) Mary was living in St Margaret's parish in Westminster at the time of her arrest. 3) Her death certificate records that she was born in Westminster. If this new line of research is accurate, Mary had at least three siblings – Elizabeth Ann Wade ; Henrietta ; and Henry. She spent her days sweeping the streets of London, as a means of begging. On 5 January 1789, Mary with another child, Jane Whiting, 14 years old, stole the clothes from Mary Phillips, an 8-year-old, who at the time was collecting water in a bottle at a privy. They then sold the frock to a pawnbroker. Mary was reported by another child to an Officer of the Law who later found the tippet in Mary's room whereupon she was arrested and placed in Bridewell Prison. Her trial was held on 14 January 1789 at the Old Bailey, where she was found guilty and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Penal transportation
On 11 March 1789, King George III was proclaimed cured of an unnamed madness; it is assumed that he suffered from porphyria, a degenerative mental disease. A month later, in the spirit of celebration, all the women on death row, including Mary Wade, had their sentences commuted to penal transportation to Australia. She spent 93 days in the Newgate Prison before being transported on Lady Juliana to Australia, which was the first convict ship to carry only women and children. After an 11-month voyage across the ocean, the ship arrived at Sydney on 3 June 1790 and Wade was sent on to Norfolk Island aboard, arriving on 7 August 1790.
Life in Australia
Wade had 2 children on Norfolk Island; Sarah in 1793, Edward and William in 1795. When they arrived back in Sydney, Mary lived with Teague Harrigan, with whom she had another two sons; Edward and Edward, in their tent on the banks of the Tank Stream in Sydney. Teague left to go on a whaling expedition in 1806 and by 1817 he was living in Port Dalrymple, Tasmania. He was granted land near the Tamar River in Launceston in 1825 and presumably never returned to the mainland.
Marriage and family
Mary lived with Jonathan Brooker near the Hawkesbury River from 1809. It was here that Mary raised her family which numbered 21 children, seven of whom lived to have their own children. Jonathan was given his Certificate of Freedom in February 1811 and then given a grant of at Tarrawanna, New South Wales by Governor Macquarie. Mary finally received her Certificate of Freedom on the first of September 1812. In 1816 they settled on the property of Airds in Campbelltown, New South Wales with their family. Mary married Jonathan Brooker on 10 February 1817 at St Lukes, Liverpool, New South Wales and her husband owned 30 acres until bushfires destroyed their property whilst Jonathan's livelihood as a Chair-maker by trade ended as his tools were all destroyed. The family became destitute and pleaded to the Governor of the time, Governor Thomas Brisbane, for aid. They recovered with Mary and Jonathan going on to own in Illawarra. Here Mary lived until Jonathan's death on 14 March 1833, when he was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church, Campbelltown, NSW. Mary died on 17 December 1859 at the age of 84, in Wollongong, New South Wales and her funeral service was the very first to be held in St Paul's Church of England, Fairy Meadow, New South Wales with her son donating the land on which the church was built.
