Petersburg (today’s Peterborough) was barely three years old when its original pharmacy opened its doors. The proprietors were Francis Edward Brady and his wife Mary Maud (nee Morton), both quite experienced in the dispensing of medicines and the care of the ill and injured.
The Bradys first grabbed my attention when I came across Mary’s obituary in the 1932 newspapers. Some of the claims in the obituary were perhaps overstated, such as being ‘entitled to her degree of Doctor’, but mostly the biographical details gave a useful description of a life well-spent in the service of the sick and needy. Equally intriguing was the claim that Mary had plenty of first-hand stories to tell about the bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang
Mary Maud Morton was born 3rd June 1857 at Waanyarra (then known as Jones’s Creek) in the goldfields district around Dunolly in Victoria. Her parents were Michael Morton and his wife Elizabeth nee Hawkins, who ran a roadside store and inn – the Welcome Inn. Mary seems to have received some nursing training at Dunnolly Hospital or in one of the Melbourne Hospitals.
By about 1877 she was able to obtain the position of assistant matron at the Wangaratta Hospital in North-East Victoria. In 1878 she tendered for, and won, the position of Matron at Wangaratta. In that same year Francis Edward Brady applied for the position of Head Wardsman at the same hospital. A head wardsman had fairly similar duties to those of a matron, including the care of patients and the dispensing of medicines, but with more of the ‘heavy-lifting’ role.
Mary and Francis married in Wangaratta on 24 July 1878. A daughter was born in 1879, and sons in 1880 and 1882. Mary and Francis were highly regarded for their success in bringing the Wangaratta Hospital from a rather poor level of performance in 1878 to one of the best hospitals in Victoria by early 1881.
Success, however, does not always bring its expected reward. In early 1881 a rather public scandal broke concerning the admission of an underage pregnant girl to the hospital. The ‘scandal’ seems to have had nothing to do with the Bradys directly, but the subsequent investigation required them to give evidence in the case. The end result was that their two positions – and that of the admitting doctor – were put out to public tender, and they were unsuccessful in retaining their jobs.
They were similarly unsuccessful in tendering for positions at the Colac Hospital in March 1882, by which time they were running a chemist and druggist business in Drouin. Their third child, another son, was born in that same year.
In 1883 Mary and Francis moved to Petersburg in South Australia and opened a pharmacy. Their business seems to have been a modest success and they were well regarded in the community. Only four years later Francis Brady, who seems to have had recurring bouts of illness throughout the years in Wangaratta, died – in December 1887.
Mary continued with the pharmacy under her own name, and under her own claims to be a pharmacist. The business then adopted the name ‘Red Cross Dispensary, Petersburg’.
Mary re-married in February 1893 – to George Holland. George had arrived in Petersburg in 1884 to operate his saddlery business. He had built premises next door to the chemist shop.
Mary by now was clearly advertising herself as a registered pharmaceutical chemist, although it is not clear how much of a legal claim she had to this qualification, other than years of dispensing medicines as a hospital nurse and matron, and as a retail pharmacist. The 1890s were years in which people could still claim to be medical people when they only held overseas diplomas in various natural therapies. In common parlance, and particularly in the remote bush, the title of ‘doctor’ was often given to such people as the local vet or a retired navy surgeon-dentist. They often had some awkward explaining to do when they were called in a professional capacity to give evidence at a local coroner’s inquest.
By 1896 Mary was advertising that she could be seen at her consulting rooms at Petersburg, although she only accepted women as patients. By 1901, as Dr MM Holland, she could also be consulted at her rooms at the Coffee Palace in Port Pirie. At one inquest she had to explain that she was more of a ‘doctoress’ than a doctor. In 1903 she returned to Petersburg to open a private hospital. She sold or let the hospital business to a Nurse Quin for a brief time and lived for a while in Port Pirie. They finally left Petersburg in 1911. In that same year she was officially listed as one of the three registered women pharmaceutical chemists in South Australia.
George Holland had by then moved on from his saddlery and harness business to become the northern organiser for the Farmers Union. They seem to have made this their main concern, and they based their lives on that work, broadly centred on the district from Port Pirie to Quorn. Dates and places are uncertain, but George eventually became a representative for Cresco Fertilisers in Western Victoria.
In 1924 they settled in a house of their own in Geelong. George died in 1928. Mary seems to have spent her remaining years living mainly with family and relatives, rather than staying in the Geelong house. She died in Lewisham Hospital, Sydney, on 4th January 1932, aged 74.
As for the Ned Kelly stories, Mary’s obituary writer states that she was a good conversationalist and had many stories about the Kelly Gang. One of the claims was that she and her first husband were present at Glenrowan when Ned Kelly was arrested and Ned’s mother hit Constable Fitzpatrick over the head with a shovel and knocked him unconscious. The accuracy, timing and locations of these events seem to have become confused in the telling, but there is no real reason to doubt that the Bradys could have been present in either Glenrowan, Greta or Benalla for one or more of these events.
The Kelly Gang story that does turn out to be quite true, however, is that Francis Brady was the house steward at Wangaratta Hospital who tended to the dying teenage son of Ann Jones, the Glenrowan innkeeper. John Jones, aged 13, and his sister Jane were caught in the crossfire at the siege at the Glenrowan Hotel where the Kelly Gang were holed up. The police were firing into the building, and Jane received a flesh wound to the forehead. John received a bullet wound to the hip and was seriously injured. Their mother, Ann Jones, rushed out the front of the building to get the police to stop firing, while daughter Jane went to ask the Kellys to let them go by train to Wangaratta Hospital for treatment. Both sides agreed, and the Jones family set off for Wangaratta. Despite Francis Brady’s treatment, the boy could not be saved. He died on the day following his admission. Francis had discussed the Glenrowan events with young John while he was treating the bullet wound, and was called as a significant witness at the coroner’s inquest.
Francis and Mary’s two sons became doctors, both obtaining higher degrees overseas. One became a Macquarie Street Specialist in Sydney. Their daughter joined the convent and became the Mother Superior of the Benedictine Convent ‘Subiaco’ at Rydalmere, Sydney.
Francis Edward Brady’s Irish family:
Francis arrived in Victoria in 1870. He was born in Dublin, the son of a judge. His father went on to become the Chief Justice of Newfoundland.
One of Francis’ brothers, James Charles Brady, had come to Victoria in about 1861, some nine years before Francis. He was employed as a teacher in Rutherglen and Beechworth. He died in Melbourne in 1889.
some relevant links:
Mary Maud Holland re-visits Peterborough in 1929
Mary Maud Holland farewelled from Petersburg 1905
Mary Maud Holland obituary 1932
Obituary: Dr AE Housen-Brady
George Holland, Port Pirie Farmers Union Agent 1898
George Holland obituary 1929
Mrs Kelly – attempted murder of Constable Fitzpatrick 1878
Francis Brady and the John Jones shooting death inquest 1880
Officially Gazetted women pharmacists in South Australia 1911