Rags to riches

Mary Reibey’s letter from the colony, 1792

Thief, Convict, Businesswoman

At the age of thirteen, the orphaned Mary Haydock was sentenced to transportation for seven years for horse stealing. She arrived in Sydney, a convicted criminal and alone, in October 1792, aged fifteen, and immediately wrote this letter to her aunt Penelope Hope in Blackburn, Lancashire.

In the letter, she exhibits that optimistic personality and perseverance which would help her cope with widowhood, and seven children, at the age of thirty-two (she had married the merchant, Thomas Reibey, in 1794) and give her the strength to take over the running of his business interests. With such success did she pursue this that within five years she was reputed to be worth £20,000. Eventually, she became a prosperous businesswoman in her own right with interests in trading ventures and property.

She died in 1855, just a few weeks after her seventy-eighth birthday, a legendary businesswoman who also took an active interest in community affairs.
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