Mary Ann Knuckey nee Thomas
| Town/City | Ballarat |
|---|---|
| First name | Mary Ann |
| Last name | Knuckey nee Thomas |
| Country of Origin | Cornwall, England |
| Date of Birth | circa Feb 1829 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1854 |
| Submitted by | Margaret Lewis |
Story
Mary Ann Thomas was born posthumously in early 1829 in Gwennap, Cornwall, England, following the death of her father John Thomas, a miner, in July 1828. She was christened on 10th February 1829 in neighbouring Redruth, her mother\’s home parish. Her mother Elizabeth, nee Tregonning, remarried on 29th June 1830 in Gwennap to James Penrose. In the 1841 census, Mary Ann was a 12 year old copper miner, living in Vogue, a small village near the junction of the Gwennap and Redruth parishes. She lived there with her mother Elizabeth; step-father James Penrose, a copper miner; brother John Henry Thomas, aged 15 yrs, also a copper miner; and step-brothers William, Richard, James and Nicholas Penrose. Ten year old William Penrose also worked at the mine in the stamping building.
When only fifteen years old Mary Ann married Richard Knuckey at Gwennap Parish Church on 15th October 1844. Her step-father James Penrose, was one of the witnesses at the wedding. Richard was a miner, of the nearby village of Crofthandy. The couple had 4 children born in Crofthandy Ð Elizabeth (born 1845), Mary Jane (born 1849), Mary Ann (born 1851, died 1853 of tuberculosis) & Caroline (born 1853). In the 1851 census the family is to be found in Crofthandy along with Richard\’s parents and his brother James and his family.
Richard was one of 14 children and with the decline in the Cornish mining industry almost half of the family left Cornwall for either Australia or Chile, South America during the 1850\’s and 1860\’s. On 15th July 1854 Richard Knuckey, his wife Mary Ann & 3 daughters departed Plymouth on the ‘Lord Raglan’ bound for Adelaide. They arrived in South Australia on 24th October 1854. They were amongst the earliest members of their family to depart Cornwall.
The family went to the Burra – Kooringa area where Richard continued his work as a miner. Four more children were born in Kooringa Ð Richard Francis (born 1855), Eliza Ann (born 1856), Sarah Ann (born 1858) and Joseph (born 1859). Life in Burra was obviously tough as the only child to survive to adulthood was Richard Francis. The others died between the ages of 2 months and 3 years. Her husband Richard\’s life in Australia was to be short lived for in 1860 he died after falling from his horse on the way home one evening. By then he was working as an engine driver at the Burra mine.
The following year Mary Ann, a widow with 4 children, married Tristram Bath, a Cornish widower with 4 children, at Wallaroo Mines, South Australia. Two more children, both named John Henry Bath, were born to this marriage. The family was amongst the first group of miners to go from Wallaroo & Moonta to the newly developing mine at Copperfield, Queensland. This occurred in January 1868 when a party of 60 miners, 7 women and 24 children was dispatched to the small port of St. Lawrence in Queensland. There, in the steamy tropical heat of February, they walked overland for more than 200 kilometres, crossing swollen rivers and high ridges until they reached Peak Downs.
In 1874 Tristram Bath returned to Wallaroo, South Australia, but he died soon after his return on 28th February 1874 in Adelaide. Mary Ann remained in Copperfield, Qld where her eldest daughter Elizabeth, Mrs William Bennett, now lived.
Mary Ann married for a third time on 4th January 1875 in Sydney to William Penhallurick, another Cornishman. William had immigrated initially to Victoria, but later moved to Copperfield where he worked as a miner. He must have been a friend of the family as he was a witness to the wedding of Mary Ann\’s daughter Caroline Knuckey which occurred on 14th October 1869. The extended family was in the process of moving from Copperfield to the mining town of Cobar, NSW when Mary Ann and William married. While living in Cobar, Mary Ann was the midwife at the birth of a number of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She remained in Cobar until 1883 when the extended family moved again, this time to Sydney, NSW.
Mary Ann and William Penhallurick remained in Sydney for the remainder of their lives along with her children, Elizabeth, Mrs William Bennett, Richard Francis Knuckey and John Henry Bath. The remainder of the family continued moving Ð this time up to the mining areas of Ravenswood and Charters Towers in North Queensland. William died in 1897, while Mary lived until 17th January 1919.