Maria Lock, also known as Maria Locke, (c. 1808 – 6 June 1878) was an Aboriginal Australian landowner in the Darug area of Western Sydney. Lock is significant in Australian history due to her educational achievements, having the first legally recognised marriage between a settler and an Aboriginal person, and later for being a landowner in early colonial times.
Maria Lock | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1808 |
| Died | 6 June 1878 Windsor, New South Wales, Australia |
Early life edit
Lock was born at Richmond Bottoms by the Hawkesbury River to Yarramundi, 'Chief of the Richmond Tribes'. The family belonged to the Boorooberongal clan of the Darug people.[1][2]
Education edit
In 1814, Lock was placed at the Native Institution at Parramatta for tuition by William and Elizabeth Shelley. Here she was given the name Maria Cook. The achievement of a black girl, aged 14, believed to be Maria Lock, winning first prize in a NSW examination ahead of approximately 120 other students was reported in the Sydney Gazette on 17 April 1819. Her teachers reported her to be well ahead of the other students, with an early grasp on the English language and above-average educational performance.[1]
Work and family life edit
By the end of 1822 it is thought that Lock was living at the household of Rev. Thomas Hassall and his wife Anne in Parramatta where she worked as a domestic. That same year Lock, living with the Hassall family, married Thomas Walker Coke, a son of Bennelong, who had also been in the Native Institution.[3] Within weeks of their marriage Coke became ill and died.[3] However, the facts of her employment within the Hassall household and marriage to Dicky are in contention, as information in her later petition for land states that she continued in the Native Institution school until she was married to Robert Lock.[4]
On 26 January 1824 she married Robert Lock, also spelt Locke (1800–1854). He was an illiterate convict carpenter. This was the first legalised and recognised marriage between a European settler and an Aboriginal person in the colony, and he was assigned to her. This took place at St John's Church, Parramatta. Together Maria and Robert had 10 children, nine of which made it to adulthood.[1]
Land grant edit
Maria and Robert initially settled on a small farm belonging to Native Institution, but later moved to the employ of Rev. Robert Cartwright at Liverpool. In March 1831, she petitioned Ralph Darling for her deceased brother Colebee's grant at Blacktown, opposite the Native Institution. 40 acres were granted to Robert on Maria's behalf, but Cartwright frustrated this claim as he felt it was injurious to the established buildings on his adjoining allotment. However, Maria persisted and in 1833 was granted forty more acres at Liverpool, again in Robert's name. She then received her brother's 30 acre grant in 1843. In 1844, Maria and her husband returned to Blacktown where they were granted another 30 acres.[1]
Final years edit
Lock died on 6 June 1878 in Windsor and was buried beside her husband Robert at St Bartholomew's Church of England, Prospect. Her burial registration reads "Last of the Aboriginals from Blacktown", and wrongly gives her birth date as 1794. Her land was divided equally among her children and was occupied by her descendants until 1920, when the freehold land was considered to be an Aboriginal reserve (Plumpton) and was revoked by the Aboriginal Protection Board. Dozens of families continue to trace their ancestry through Maria, her father Yarramundi and her grandfather Gomebeeree, stretching back to the 1740s.[1][5]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e Parry, Naomi, "Lock, Maria (1805–1878)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 31 May 2023
- ^ "Significant Aboriginal women: Maria Lock | Parramatta History and Heritage". Parramatta History and Heritage. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Coke, Thomas Walter | The Dictionary of Sydney". The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ "Lock, Maria | The Dictionary of Sydney". The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ Parry, Naomi, "Maria Lock (1805–1878)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 20 January 2024
- Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Parramatta History and Heritage - Significant Aboriginal Women, Maria Lock
- Lachlan And Elizabeth Maquarie Archive, Macquarie University
- Dictionary of Sydney
- Petition from Maria Lock re Land grant 1831
- Pondering the Abyss a study of the language of settlement on the Hawkesbury Nepean Rivers website
- Pondering the Abyss: the complete work (pdf)
- Sydney Living Museums - Maria Lock's 1831 petition
- Leanne Tobin: My great-great-great grandmother Maria Lock