Fenton, Mary Ann
Family background
Mary Ann Fenton was born in the Queanbeyan area in 1877, eldest of four daughters to Richard Olley Fenton, cattle station manager, and Diana nee Rottenbury. In 1892 she passed an examination to become a Pupil Teacher but was obliged to wait three years for a position.
Pupil Teacher: Burrowa and Yass Public schools
In October 1895 Mary Ann was temporarily assigned to Burrowa Public, replacing another Pupil Teacher on sick leave. Six months later she was removed to Yass Public, bringing her closer to her home on Kenilworth Station where her father was manager. Over the next two years she advanced on schedule, then in 1898, with a year of training still to complete, she applied to become teacher of a small school, reminding the Department of her initial three-year wait for a position. While the local inspector endorsed the application, describing her as 'painstaking and deserving', there was no immediate action, so she reiterated her request six months later, coinciding with the need for a teacher at Mulligans Flat.
Mulligans Flat Provisional School
In late September 1898 Mary Ann was appointed to Mulligans Flat after Mabel Johnstone's hasty departure prompted a request for 'a teacher used to country life'. In October she reported closing the school for a day due to extreme wet weather. A month later another day's closure was sanctioned for a picnic hosted by Mrs Crace of Gungahleen for the pupils from Gininderra, Mulligans Flat, Weetangera and Gungahleen schools. The enjoyment of this event, where 'youngsters were most liberally supplied with refreshments, and various games were indulged in', was widely-acknowledged ['Queanbeyan Age', 23 November 1898, p. 2]. Despite Mary Ann's capability at Mulligans Flat, she was removed after eleven months when the school was converted to half-time.
Merriganowry Provisional School
In late July 1899 Mary Ann was assigned inaugural teacher at Merriganowry near Cowra, where residents had re-erected a building from nearby Canimbla Creek, and asked for a female teacher. While Mary Ann's appointment to this new school suggested her competency, her Roman Catholic background was also a significant factor, the local inspector declaring a 'Protestant would find it very difficult or impossible to get lodging'. Although she seems to have capably adjusted to her new position, after a couple of months she asked to be removed closer to home and while this was noted, her tenure at Merriganowry eventually lasted three years, during which time she gained a classification by examination and made significant connections for her later life course.
Solferino Public School
In April 1902 Mary Ann was promoted to Solferino Public near Young, her annual salary rising from £72 to £120. In January 1903 she required two weeks sick leave after surgery to remove a spinal tumour, her leave application noting she had until then only one day's absence in seven-and-a-half years' service! After recovering she returned to Solferino where she remained for six years. During this time her father, still the manager of Kenilworth Station, was stricken with paralysis and died soon after, and her mother then moved to live with a married daughter in Murrumbateman.
Royalla Public School
In 1908 Mary Ann was appointed to Royalla but tendered her resignation at the end of the year due to her impending marriage, having completed fourteen years' service.
Later life
In January 1909, she married grazier John Grant of Merriganowry, who she presumably met during her former appointment when she had boarded with his parents. The couple settled on a farm in Merriganowry and had two children, one sadly dying in infancy. Mary Ann continued to reside there until her death in 1961 aged 83, outliving her husband by a decade. She was buried in Cowra Cemetery.
[Biography prepared by Joanne Toohey, 2025. Sources include NSW school teachers' rolls 1868-1908, NSW school and related records 1876-1979, historic newspapers, NSW births, deaths and marriages index, probate documents, and 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', (1999) by Lyall Gillespie.]
Schools
- Mulligans Flat School
09/1898 - 08/1899 - Royalla School
04/1908 - 01/1909