Mary THOMAS

THOMAS, MARY (b. Birmingham, England, July 1819, d. Goulburn, NSW, 27 Nov 1898). Wife of Mesac Thomas, bp of Goulburn (q.v.).

Daughter of Thomas Hasluck, merchant of Birmingham, whose family consisted of four daughters and two sons Mary Hasluck was educated in France as well as in England. Her love of travel and interest in people was fostered from an early age. She met Mesac Thomas while he was in his first curacy under Bp Ryder of Birmingham. After marriage, they served in various rural and London parishes. On their arrival in Goulburn to take up the See in 1864, she threw herself into the task of helping her husband to organise a vast area which stretched to the SA border and the Murray River. She had no children—like Jane Barker and Frances Perry—and was therefore free to accompany her husband on seven visits as far as Wentworth, over 1000 km from her home.

Before leaving England she had founded a fugitive slave mission to work amongst negroes who had fled north to Canada after the American Civil War. She also took a deep interest in church work in Europe, helping to set up summer chaplaincies for tourists. In Australia her energies were chiefly directed to the work of the Church Society which aimed to fund clergy and buildings in the diocese. She raised considerable sums to help the poor by means of letter-writing, entertaining and sales of work. She was also actively involved in the building and management of St Saviour's Cathedral. She returned to private life following her husband's death in 1892, but on her passing was publicly mourned for her 'charitable disposition, hospitality', wise counsel and warmth of friendship. She and her husband had done much to consolidate a young rural diocese.

JANET WEST