Mary (Avery) Beard (abt. 1826 - 1914)

Born about 1826 in County Galway, Ireland

Wife of William Beard — married 13 May 1854 in Toodyay, Western Australia, Australia

Descendants

Died 5 Jul 1914 at about age 88 in Toodyay, Western Australia, Australia

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Biography

Mary (Avery) Beard was born in Ireland.

Mary was born in County Galway, Ireland circa 1826.

Western Australia

Mary (Avery) Beard was an Assisted Immigrant to Western Australia.

The barque Palestine (466 tons) left England on the 30th December 1852, she experienced a stormy passage, she put in at the Cape, where she remained three days taking in a supply of water. Two adults and eight children perished during the long voyage. ^[1]

The Palestine arrived in the Swan River Colony on 28 April 1853. ^[2]

Among the 223 passengers were 33 poor or orphaned Irish girls. ^[3] Mary was selected from the over crowded Mountbellew workhouse ^[4] to travel to Western Australia to find work as a servant in the new Colony.

On arrival the girls were moved directly from the ship to the Servant’s Home in Perth where they were housed and fed until a suitable position was found for them.

Mary Heavy married William Beard in Toodyay on 13 May 1854.^[5]

Mary passed away in Toodyay on 5 July 1914. She was interred in the Catholic portion of the Toodyay Cemetery. ^[6]

W.A. Record (Perth, WA : 1888 - 1922), Saturday 11 July 1914, page 9
TOODYAY. On Tuesday, the 7th inst., the Funeral of Mrs Beard took place to the Toodyay Catholic Cemetery. She was one of the good old Catholic pioneers who kept the Faith in W.A. under trying conditions. Mrs Beard spent a long, happy and useful, if a somewhat uneventful life in Culham. She was always conspicuous as a good wife and mother. Hers was a happy home, for she was the sun beam, the instrument of happiness in it, and she was the most exemplary of mothers. By teaching as far as her limited education would allow, and by procuring Catholic teachers for her children, as well as by most excellent Christian example, she spared no sacrifice for them. If every Catholic mother discharged these sacred duties as faithfully and as unistentatiously as she did, there would be few apostates from the Faith. The Catholic portion of the Toodyay Cemetery has been for some time in a sad state of disrepair, and considering how sacred the Church holds those bodies which were when on earth the temples of the Holy Ghost, and which will yet (it is hoped) be the associates' of God's angels in Heaven, every effort should be made to keep a Catholic cemetery in decent order. A strong committee has been formed recently, with the local pastor as hon. secretary, and no doubt they will have the work done without delay. ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ The Ships List https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/aust1850s.shtml
2. ↑ TROVE https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65484713
3. ↑ TROVE Passenger List Palestine https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3174386?searchTerm=Palestine
4. ↑ Tintean Mountbellew Workhouse Project https://tintean.org.au/category/mountbellew-workhouse/
5. ↑ WA BDM Marriage Registration Heavy 685/1854 https://www.bdm.justice.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx
6. ↑ Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196572194/mary-beard
7. ↑ Around the Country (1914, July 11). The W.A. Record (Perth, WA : 1888 - 1922), p. 9. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212353266

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