What about Julia becoming the first female prime minister in Australia; Or Quentin, first female governor general or Catherine Hamlin an Australian obstetrician who started a hospital in Ethiopia for women suffering after childbirth.
Can you guess which story would be closest to my heart? A seventeen year old in Year 12 at _____ High School?
Right at this very moment it’s a twenty dollar note.
If we view this as a symbol woes of everyday life then it’s a common misstep to keep this note close to your heart. To let life make you forget to care for others. To care for the fate of Ethiopian women.
Obviously this doesn't have to be the case. So lets stop looking at this as a symbol: forget what its monetary value happens to be.
It's made of polymer, its red and it has pictures on it. There's a woman. Who is she? How many times have you seen this note and been completely unaware of this story?
Let me take you back in time to the England of 1790 where a girl called Mary Haydock was working for a living in a grammar school. She was thirteen years old and this was the industrial revolution. Eight years ago Mary's parents had died leaving her an orphan without a family.
Even at this age though she was smart. She devised a plan of escape from her servitude. She didn't just waltz out through the gates. She dressed herself as a boy and took on the alias of James Barrow. Disguised thus she escaped the school forever.
Unfortunately, James was captured with a stolen horse and sentenced to death. Our young hero's story would have been forgotten if he'd been hung that day. Instead good fortune looked upon the young boy who was sent to the colony of New South Wales as a convict instead.
Shortly before departure the authorities finally realised that James was female and Mary came to Australia under her original name.
In Australia Mary, grew up, married a young fellow named Thomas Reibey, got his surname and they lived happily ever after. *sigh* I wish. But the world didn't work like that back then; Thomas died just forty-two years old.
Together they had bought a farm and started a shipping line. Now a widow Mary raised their seven children, expanded the shipping business, started investing in real estate across sydney, opened a shop in the rocks and generally went about being a successful business woman.
They say that's why she's on the twenty dollar note. Because she was Australia's first business woman. But I believe it is her whole tremendous story means she deserves to be here.
I've always loved her story: one of cleverness, of daring and resilience. I hope I have learnt these from Mary, my great great great great great great grandmother. You see her story is close to my heart figuratively and literally.
Now you know Mary's story too. So each time you open your wallet you can think about Mary, the orphan who worked for a living or James the runaway horse thief who nearly hanged or about M. Reibey, Australia's first business woman and her legacy which still shines in our lives today.
