Mary ROUSE

Eldest daughter of free settler, Richard Rouse (1774 -1852) and his wife, Elizabeth, nee Adams (1772-1849).

Born 13 January 1799 in England. Mary emigrated to NSW with her parents in 1801 on board the Nile. Her mother was pregnant at the time of their departure and this second child, John Richard, was born during the voyage. (Margaret Catchpole was among the convicts on board and it is believed that she acted as midwife - later she was employed by Richard Rouse as overseer of his farm at North Richmond).

The Rouse family arrived in the colony on 14 December 1801 and were granted 100 acres at North Richmond (on the Hawkesbury River) by Governor King in March 1802. In July 1805 Rouse was appointed Superintendent of Public Works (at Parramatta) and the Rouse family moved to a house opposite the gates of Government House, Parramatta. This placed them in close contact with a succession of governors (King, Bligh, Macquarie) in their vice-regal occupancy of the official residence.

In 1813, Thomas Hassall (1794 - 1868) set up the first Sunday school in Australia in Parramatta, and Mary Rouse appears to have been employed as an assistant in teaching at this school. At some time c.1817 -1818 she became a maidservant in the employ of Elizabeth Macquarie; in a letter from Mary Hassall to her brother Thomas, who was in London studying for the ministry, she wrote:

"Miss Rouse went to live in Sydney with Mrs Mcquarie [sic] to take care of her son, in her we lost a nice teacher but I have got hopes of her returning soon, it is my opinion she would not have gone but her parents wished her to marry Mr. Chisolm, he is now married to Miss Bowman."

Mary Rouse was listed among the Governor's entourage to Newcastle in 1818, and clearly she was in attendance as a governess to Lachlan Macquarie Jnr. who at that stage would have been almost four and half years of age.

On 22 November 1819 Mary Rouse married Jonathan Hassall (1798-1834) at St. John's Church in Parramatta - in the famous triple wedding when three of Rowland Hassall's children were married in the same ceremony: Samuel Hassall married Lucy Mileham, the daughter of Dr. James Mileham (c.1763-1824) and Mary Cover Hassall married the Methodist missionary Rev. Walter Lawry (1793-1859). After Mary Rouse's marriage Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie engaged Theodore Bartley, aged 16, as a tutor to their son Lachlan.

During the first years of their marriage Jonathan and Mary lived on the Hassall family property Macquarie Groveat Camden. Their first child, Rowland was born in 1820.

In 1816 Jonathan had received from Governor Macquarie a grant of 200 acres at the Cowpastures near Camden (present-day: Cobbitty) which he called Matavai.This was consolidated later by a second grant of 230 acres. In 1823, Jonathan and his three brothers, Thomas, Samuel, and James, received grants of land west of the mountains. Governor Thomas Brisbane granted Jonathan 800 acres at O'Connell Plains, south-east of Bathurst. The grant became known as Newberry Farm and in 1828 its location was listed as being at Macquarie Plains. The 1828 Census records that Jonathan's Matavaiholding now totalled 700 acres; he also owned an additional 1100 acres at Bathurst known as Junction Farm.

However, it is clear that Mary's husband Jonathan lacked the managerial skills needed to successfuly meet the challenges of early colonial enterprise. His personal debts, and the mismanagement of the assets of other family members, increased progressively over the years. Despite the best efforts of his brothers and brothers-in-laws he became deeply indebted and was clearly troubled by his personal situation. He sold his Matavaiproperty to his brother James, and Jonathan, Mary and their six children moved to Berkshire House,near Riverstone.

Berkshire Housewas a 10-roomed house that had been built by Mary's father, Richard Rouse, on 320 acres located at the junction of South Creek and the Richmond Road, close to the Rouse Hillestate. It was from here that Mary wrote to her brother-in-law, Thomas, on 27 March 1834, indicating that her husband's physical and mental state was in decline:

"I am sorry to inform you that my poor Jon'n is very ill he has keep his bed for several days an is growing very week [sic] an at intervils [sic] very delirious he wishes to converse with some pious friend I have rote [sic] Mr Scoufield at Whindsor [sic] he has promised to come an see him I trust the first time you come near us that you will please to pay us a visit of love to his presious [sic] soul who can tell that a worde [sic] or two in season might have the desired affect.[sic]

O' that his dear departed Mothers petitions may be heard an answered before it is two [sic] laite, [sic] I was in hopes to have the pleasure of meeting you with my Sister on Easter Thursday I fear that Jon'n health will not permitt [sic] my leaving home Jonathan joines [sic] me in sincer [sic] love to Ann yourself an family hoping you enjoyed your trip to Oconale [sic: O'Connell] plaines [sic] from your Sincer [sic] an anxious Sister."

Later that same year, on 13 December, at his former property of Matavai,Jonathan's troubled life came to an end, when he apparently took his own life by drowning. The Sydney Gazetteof 16 December recorded the events preceding his death, and the probability of his suicide:

"We regret to state that Mr. Jonathan Hassall of Matavia,[sic] Cowpastures, who has been in a deranged state of mind for the last three months, put a period to his existence on Saturday last. He left home early on the morning of that day with a determination, as he stated, of shooting some person who had offended him: but as he was in the habit of behaving in this strange manner, no particular notice was taken of his threat. However, he not returning at the usual hour, search was made, when his hat and stick were discovered floating in a lagoon near his farm. We had not heard of the body being discovered at the time we went to press."

At the time, Mary was pregnant with their eighth child. This infant, Elizabeth, was born in 1835, but only lived for six days.

By 1840, six years after the death of his son-in-law, Jonathan, Richard Rouse had built a new single-storey brick house of Georgian design for Mary and her children at Berkshire House.In 1850, Richard Rouse again provided for his daughter Mary and her family by transferring to her ownership of three property holdings on the Castlereagh River at Mendooran, totalling 19,200 acres. One of these properties was called Bundullaand her son Edwin Otoo Hassall, and his wife Lucy, made this their home after their marriage in 1857.

Mary did not remarry, but continued to live at Berkshire Parkfor the remainder of her life. She died on 15 December 1883, aged 84 and was buried at St. Matthews, Windsor - in the same tomb as her husband and daughter Elizabeth.

Children:
Rowland H. Hassall (1820-1904) m. Elizabeth Jane Royds (nee Roberts) (1824-1875)
Richard James Hassall (1822-1900) m. Emily Brown
Jonathan Lawry Hassall (1824-1899) m. Bertha Mary Carlos (c.1842-1892)
Edwin Otoo Hassall (1826-1898) m. Lucy Maria Williams (c.1839-1898)
James Hassall (1827) [died at birth]
Mary Cover Hassall (1828-1858) m. William Walker (1828-1908)
Charles Hassall (1831-1863) [unmarried]
Elizabeth Hassall (1835) [died aged 6 days]

Census of New South Wales, November 1828. (Eds.) Malcolm R. Sainty and Keith A Johnson. Sydney: Library of Australian History, 1980.

Sydney Gazette 16 December 1834 p.2 [column 4].

Secondary Sources:
Ritchie, John, Lachlan Macquarie: a biography. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986 p.164.

Stewart, Jean and Hassall, David J. The Hassall Family: celebrating 200 years in Australia 1798-1998. Newport, NSW: The Hassall Family Bicentenary Association, 1998.

Thornton, Caroline Rouse, Rouse Hill House and the Rouses. Nedlands, W.A.: Caroline Thornton, 1988.

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