Maria Locke

Maria Locke or Lock (* 1808 in Richmond , New South Wales , Australia , † July 6, 1878 in Blacktown , New South Wales), was an Aborigine in the Boorooberongal clan of the Darug , who lived in what is now the western suburbs of Sydney . Mary was the first Aboriginal woman to legally marry a white man under British law and practice; As a special feature, the colonial government granted her a right of return for her husband - a convict.

Origin and youth

Maria Locke's father was Yarramundi , an elder who was called the Chief of the Richmond tribe by the British , and her grandfather was gomberry. Maria was the sister of Elder Colebee , who, together with Narragingy, was one of the first Aborigines to receive land in New South Wales .

It is believed that Maria had contact with Europeans from early childhood. Yerramundi handed his daughter at the age of eleven, William Shelley and his wife Elizabeth, who in the Native Institution in Parramatta brought to school, was at the Shelley headmaster. Maria Locke was the first Aboriginal girl to attend this school, which opened in 1815. Maria was an excellent student and at the age of 14 she was very likely to win the main prize in a school competition against 20 Aboriginal children and 100 Europeans.

marriage

Maria Locke, then 16 years old, was the first Aboriginal to marry legally. Her husband, Robert Locke, was a British convict who could not read or write and who was sentenced to seven years. Unusual and unique in the Australian convict colony was not only the marriage, but also that the convict Robert was assigned by the colonial government to Maria Locke with a right of return. But there are also indications that Maria was previously married to Dicky, a son of Elder Bennelong .

After the wedding ceremony on January 26, 1824, the 36th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet , they both moved to Blacktown and settled there on 1.6  hectares of land in a wooden hut. Before she married, Maria was promised a small piece of land and a cow. She got the cow, but not the land. Then she claimed the promised land. She was given an assurance on the 12 hectares of land that Colebee and Nurragingy had received in 1819 as the first indigenous residents of Australia. A year after the marriage, the Locke couple moved to Liverpool City near Sydney.

Maria and Robert had nine children together and from 1844 lived again in Blacktown on the land of the late Colebee and Nurragingy, which Maria was given after a legal battle. She was believed to be the first Aboriginal person to own land and lived there until her death at the age of 70. Robert had died before her at the age of 53 on August 23, 1854.

Review

Jerome, a grandson of Maria Locke, was a soldier in the Windsor Volunteer Rifles in 1878/1879 . It is believed that he was Australia's first Aboriginal soldier. The Locke family has the best-documented family tree of any indigenous family in Australia, dating back to the 1740s. It is estimated that there are approximately 7,000 descendants of Maria and Robert Locke today, many of whom still live in and around Blacktown. Martha Everingham, who died in 1926, is considered the last "thoroughbred" Darug aborigine.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} adb.anu.edu.au : Naomi Parry: Lock, Maria (1805–1878) , in English, accessed October 14
2. ↑ There are different statements regarding their age, 84 years are also mentioned.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} abc.net.au ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Narelle Tait: The Story of Maria Locke , in English, accessed October 14, 2011 
4. ^ Dictionaryofsydney.org : Jack Brook: Lock, Maria , 2008, in English, accessed October 14, 2011
5. ↑ hdhs.com.au ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Naming of the Wards and Other Significant Areas. Maria Lock Ward - Medical , accessed October 15, 2011