Mary (MacCormack) Parr (abt. 1763)

Born about 1763 in England [uncertain]

Wife of William Parr — married 10 Feb 1788 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Died [date unknown] in New South Wales, Australia [uncertain]

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Space:Australia, First Christian Weddings

Biography

Mary (MacCormack) Parr was a convict on the First Fleet.

Mary MacCormack There are two references to her age: according to hulk records she was born about 1754, however according to her age recorded by Ralph Clark, she was born about 1763.

Mary was convicted at the quarter sessions at Liverpool, Lancashire on 12th August 1784 of "divers felonies, and receiving and buying stolen goods, knowing the same to be stolen".^[1] She was sentenced to be transported for seven years.

Mary was received on the Dunkirk hulk on 23 October 1786 age 32, and discharged to the transport Friendship on 11 March 1787, where Ralph Clark noted her age as 24, and her crime as "Buying a Silver Tank Stolen".^[2]

At the Cape of good Hope, Mary was transferred to the Prince of Wales on 28 October. She arrived with the First Fleet on 26 January 1788 to found the penal colony of New South Wales.^[2]

Mary and William were the first couple to have a Christian wedding in Australia, on 10th February 1788

The first couple to have a Christian wedding in Australia were Mary, and William Parr, on Sunday 10th February 1788. The marriage was officiated at by the military chaplain, Reverend Richard Johnson and was the first of five weddings that he performed that day. Mary marked the register with a cross; William signed his name.^[3]

Mary was free by servitude on 12th August 1791. She and William were moved onto 50 acres of land in 1791 (officially granted on 22nd February 1792) at the Northern Boundary Farms (50 acres was the standard allocation for a couple without children).^[4]

They were visited on 6 December 1791 by Watkin Tench, who thought William was a man of great industry and had a good house, but William did not seem pleased with what he had achieved. That was the last known reference to William and Mary, and it is probable that they left the colony.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Williamson's Liverpool Advertiser Thursday 19th August 1784
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Gillen, Mollie, The Founders of Australia : A Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet, 1989, pp.228-229.
3. ↑ Marriage Index #1/1788 V17881 3A; whilst recorded as being performed in St Phillip's Church, no consecrated church building yet existed]
4. ↑ Ryan, R J. Land Grants 1788-1809. Australian Documents Library. Sydney, 1981

• Cobley, John. The Crimes of the First Fleet Convicts, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 2nd ed 1982.
• Cobley, John. Sydney Cove 1788, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 2nd ed 1962.