Mary Lily May (Deal) Quirk (1880 - 1952)

Born 7 Dec 1880 in Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia

Wife of John Bede Quirk — married 9 Feb 1927 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died 4 Mar 1952 at age 71 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Mary (Deal) Quirk is Notable.

Mary was born in 1880. ^[1]

In 1927, she married John Bede Quirk. ^[2]

She passed away in 1952.

Notices

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 18 January 1939. ^[3] DECLARATION OF BALMAIN POLL. Attack on "Inner Group."! MRS. QUIRK'S ELECTION. After a postponement of one day because of allegations, of irregularities and reports of contemplated Court action Mrs. Mary Quirk the Lang Labour candidate was yesterday officially declared to line won the Balmain by-election. A feature off the declaration was the attitude or the Independent candidates, Messrs. Weston and O'Carroll towards Mrs. Quirk. Mr. Weston yesterday said subsequently that he had ignored Mrs. Quirk and would not shake hands with her. The returning officer, Mr. A. C. Caldwell announced the poll as follows:- O'Carroll, John................................. 2,954 Quirk, Mrs. Mary Lily May.............. 7,611 Weston, Sidney................................ 4,336 Informal.............................................. 772 Absolute majority for Mrs. Quirk, 361 votes Mr. Caldwell said that there were a few sectional votes to be counted but these could not affect the result. MRS QUIRKS THANKS Mrs. Quirk in returning thanks said the banner of Labour had been placed in her hands and she had to keep it as unsullied as her late husband had done. She thought that one of the reasons why the numbers in favour of her candidature had dropped was because of the prejudice against a woman but she hoped to break down that prejudice before the next election. There were many other factors that had prejudiced people against her but she felt that these too would be broken down. THE INDEPENDENTS Mr. Weston thanked Mr. O'Carroll for the clean fight that he had put up. "We have proved that the grip of the Lang machine can be smashed, the inner Group broken and an independent Labour party returned to power," he said. The Inner Group he said would stoop to anything to smash a decent Labour man." Mr. O'Carroll thanked Mr. Wilson for his courtesy. The election would be a milestone because it shoved that people were beginning to think and to doubt. He declared that "How to vote cards were a form of intimidation and entirely undemocratic. "God speed the day when there will be a real free democratic election in Australia; then the will of the people will prevail he concluded.

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 5 March 1952, page 4. ^[4] Death Of Mrs. Mary Quirk Mrs. Mary Lily Quirk, a former Lang Labour member of the Legislative Assembly for Balmain, died at Sydney Hospital yesterday. She was in Parliament from 1939 until she was defeated at the general election of 1950. Mrs. Quirk won the Balmain seat at a by-election following the death of her husband, Mr. John Quirk, who represented Rozelle and Balmain for 22 years continuously. Mrs. Quirk was the second woman to be elected to the N.S.W. Parliament, the first having been Miss Preston Stanley, now Mrs. Preston Stanley Vaughan, who was formerly Nationalist member for Eastern Suburbs. Mrs. Quirk and Mrs. Lilian Fowler (Lang Lab., Newtown), who was elected in 1944, were for many years the only two women members of the New South Wales Parliament. Both were defeated in 1950, and there are now no women members. Mrs. Quirk was a warm advocate of the rights of women. The Premier, Mr. McGirr, said yesterday: "Individually, every member of the New South Wales Parliament will mourn very sincerely the passing of Mrs. Mary Quirk. She added a special dignity to our Parliament. "On behalf of the Government, and members of the Parliamentary Labour Party as a whole, I extend sincere sympathy to Mrs. Quirk's relatives." Mrs. Quirk is survived by three married daughters, Mrs. M. Lovatt, and Mrs. A. Wilkes, both of Sydney, and Mrs. V. Watson, of Brisbane, and by grand and great-grand-children. The funeral will take place to-morrow morning at St. Joseph's Church, Rozelle, and the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Field of Mars.

Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 6 March 1952, page 20. ^[5] QUIRK. - Requiem Mass for the Re-pose of the Soul of the late MARY LILY MAY QUIRK (former M. L. A., Balmain) will be celebrated at St. Joseph's Church, Rozelle. This Thursday at 9 a. m. The funeral will leave the church after Mass for the Catholic Cemetery, Field of Mars. MOTOR FUNERALS LTD. A. F. D. A., 30 City Road city Tele., M6277-8-9-0

Sources

1. ↑ NSW Government. Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages (accessed 19 Aug 2023). Birth Index, Index entry for DEAL, MARY LILLY M; Parents: JULIUS & EMMA MARGRETTA; District: MUDGEE; Registration Number: 21003/1881
2. ↑ NSW Government. Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages (accessed 19 Aug 2023). , Index entry for JOHN QUIRK and MARY L M KELLY; District: SYDNEY; Registration Number: 454/1927
3. ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17552245
4. ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18249895
5. ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18251616

• Wikipedia Article. (Accessed 19 Aug 2023) Wikipedia:Mary Quirk
• https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/lifelink/familyhistory/search
• Marriage 1 - NSW BDM MC 7371/1898 - Groom = KELLY, JOHN; Bride = DEAL, MARY - BALMAIN.
• Marriage 2 - NSW BDM MC 454/1927 - Groom = QUIRK, JOHN: Bride = KELLY, MARY L M - SYDNEY on 9 February 1927.
• Death - QUIRK, MARY LILY MAY - NSW BDM DC 416/1952 - F = JULIUS, M = EMMA - SYDNEY
• http://ryersonindex.net/search.php - QUIRK, Mary Lily May. Death notice 04 MAR 1952. Death late of Randwick. Sydney Morning Herald 05 MAR 1952.
• Link - https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GJNL-JSX