Mary Wellstead
Mary Ann Isabella Wellstead was the first Stationmaster and telegraph operator of the Bremer Bay Telegraph Station, and likely the first female telegraphist in Australia.[1] She worked at the telegraph station from 1876-1881.[2][3]
Early life[edit]
Wellstead was born on 10 February 1850 in Albany, Western Australia to pioneer settler John Wellstead and Ann Amy Wellstead (née Crawford), and was the couple's first child.[2] Wellstead grew up in Albany and worked on the family's property gardening, milking cows and making butter.[2][4]
Wellstead's father assisted in developing the section of the Perth to Adelaide, East-West Telegraph Line between Albany and Bremer Bay, where a repeater station was eventually erected in 1875 overlooking the estuary.[4]
Bremer Bay Stationmaster[edit]
In 1876, at the age of 26 years, Wellstead was trained in Morse code by superintendent James Coates Fleming.[2][4][5] Fleming then appointed her as the temporary Stationmaster at Bremer Bay, as no suitable stationmasters were available at the time of commissioning,[6] due to the remoteness of the station.[2][7] She served as Stationmaster[8] until the arrival of three permanent staff, J Lloyd (Assistant), M Ring (Linesman), and GP Stevens (Stationmaster), in late 1877.[2][4][7]
Wellstead continued working at the repeater station as a telegraph clerk and assistant[9] until 1881, when she married shepherd and shearer John 'Jack' James Harris at St John's Church in Albany.[2][4][5] Harris was also employed on the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line.[2][4] The track for the road for telegraphs is named 'Wellstead road'.[10]
Later life[edit]
Wellstead and Harris moved to the outstation at Quaalup Valley shortly after marriage.[2][4][5] Two years later their first child, John Wellstead Kent Harris, was born, and grew up to become the Harbour Master at Fremantle.[2][5] In all, they had four children over the course of their thirteen years of marriage.[2]
Wellstead died on the 13th of December 1894 in her hometown of Albany.[2] Both she and Jack Harris are buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery, Albany.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ Gower, Hayley (2023-06-26). "About | The Telegraph Café". thetelegraphcafe.com.au. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wellstead, John (1998). The Wellstead Family 1820-1998: A Genealogical Record and Brief History of an Early Bremer Bay Family. Albany, Western Australia: Warjam Publications. p. 16. ISBN 0958625808.
- ^ "Bremer Bay historical sites take you back to an amazing past". bremerbaywa.com.au. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g Heritage Council of Western Australia (17 October 2008). "Register of Heritage Places – Assessment Documentation Wellsteads' Homestead Group". InHerit WA. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d Stevens, G. P. (27 October 1933). "The East-West Telegraph, 1875-77" (PDF). Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Bremer Bay". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-02-08. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b National Archives of Australia (16 May 1996). The History of the Telegraph System in Western Australia. NAA: K1213, FOLDER 250. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ "Connecting Western Australia to the rest of the world – Website | www.robertonfray.com". Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Telegraph Station Amazing Coffee & Cake on the verandah past". bremerbaywa.com.au. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Telegraph Line from Albany to Eucla". Western Australian Times. 1874-10-09. Retrieved 2023-11-07.