McManus (Mrs Ryan), Mary Ursula
Mary McManus was born in 1869 in Wandella near Cobargo, eldest of thirteen children to Thomas McManus and Maria nee Gildea. In 1878 her father, though lacking teaching experience, was nominated to take charge of Wandella Provisional School. As he gained qualifications he was promoted to larger schools, the family relocating to Cobbobra, Breadalbane, Delegate, and Morisset in turn. This experience was the foundation for Mary and three of her siblings to pursue teaching.
In October 1888, Mary then eighteen, left home to begin as an unqualified teacher at Essington Public School, an isolated community of poor farmers and miners near Oberon. As Essington's population fell over the next eighteen months, the school was converted to half-time, and in November 1890 Mary was transferred to Nerrabundah Provisional which had been closed for some months awaiting a teacher of Catholic background to match the affiliation of local families. Mary's Catholicism was an appropriate fit with the community, and the location had an added benefit in bringing her closer to her family home in Breadalbane and to her sister Ellen McManus, then teaching at Kowen.
Shortly after commencing at Nerrabundah Mary gained a basic teaching qualification by examination. Only a few months later dwindling enrolments at Nerrabundah due to population movement reduced the school to half-time and Mary was transferred to Milbang Provisional. While this school was close to her family home, after a year Mary sought appointment to a larger school, supported by the district school inspector who described her as a capable and energetic teacher. In 1893, she was placed at Rose Vale Public (between Bungonia and Windellama) however less than a year later asked to move due to the combined discomforts of geographic isolation and religious estrangement from the mainly Protestant community.
By the end of 1895 Mary was placed at Wingello Public in the Southern Highlands where she settled for the next five years. She was promoted for 'Good Service' in 1899 having been teaching in small schools for over ten years - longer than most female teachers. Her sister Ellen meanwhile had entered a religious order. In 1900, Mary was transferred to Drofwal Public (near Gunning) in an exchange made to placate the incumbent teacher. Despite the surprise of this transfer, Mary seems to have quickly adjusted, and continued to bring conscientiousness and competence to her school duties.
Mary remained at Drofwal ten years. In 1904 she married salesman James Aloysius Ryan, informing the Department as was required and emphasising that she intended to continue teaching 'with the usual zeal'. In 1911 she was promoted to Sydney, employed initially at Darlington Public, then after several years transferring to Willoughby Public where she remained until retirement in 1934 after forty-five years of teaching. At retirement she was paid an accrued seven months' leave at her final salary of £233.18.0 p.a., then was likely supported by a government pension, her long career entitling her to such. Unfortunately, around the same time as she retired, the introduction of legislation banning married women from employment in the public service precluded other women from pursuing long careers. Mary died in 1949, her husband having predeceased her by sixteen years, and was buried in the Northern Suburbs Catholic Cemetery.
[Biography prepared by Joanne Toohey, 2023. Sources consulted include NSW school teachers' rolls 1868-1908, NSW school and related records 1876-1979, historic newspapers, NSW births, deaths and marriages index, and 'Early Education and Schools in the Canberra Region', (1999) by Lyall Gillespie.]
Schools
- Nerrabunda ('Long Gully') School
11/1890 - 03/1891