Mary Ann Bugg was born near Gloucester/Stroud in New South Wales. Her father was a shepherd named James Brigg (who subsequently changed his name to Bugg). He had been born in Essex in England in 1801 and on 18 July 1825 was transported for life for stealing meat. He arrived in Sydney per the ship SOSTRIS on 26 March 1826, and on 15 January 1828 was assigned to the Australian Agricultural Company as Overseer of Shepherds. He was successful in his duties and in 1834 was granted a Ticket of Leave. This meant he was technically a free man who could own property but could not leave the Colony.

He took up with an Aboriginal woman called Charlotte and from this union were born Mary Ann and a brother named John. The children were baptised in the Church of England and in 1839 they were sent to a boarding school in Sydney where Mary Ann learnt to read and write, sew, cook and other domestic skills. She had probably also been taught bushcraft and other Aboriginal skills by her mother. She returned to the property in 1845 and was employed in domestic chores.

On 01 June 1846, at the age of 14 (and in common with many girls of the period) she married a shepherd named Edmund Baker and the couple moved to Mudgee. She had her first child some months later. The couple were employed by a woman named Mrs. Garbutt whose son James was involved with a former drover, horse breaker and station hand turned horse and cattle thief named Frederick Ward and his brother William. Mary would have met Ward and possibly some attraction was formed between them.

How far such attraction may have developed is not known, for in 1856 Ward and Garbutt were sentenced to Cockatoo Island prison for ten years for receiving stolen horses. They served only four years and were released on Tickets of Leave, returning to the Garbutt's Cooyal Station in July 1860. While Ward had been in gaol Baker had died, so, after a short time, Mary Ann, her young son and Ward left Cooyal and moved to Dungog. Mary Ann later claimed that during this time they married, although no Marriage Certificate has ever been found. In October 1861 Ward was arrested again for horse theft and returned to Cockatoo Island to serve the rest of his sentence plus another three years for the second crime. Two weeks later Mary Ann gave birth to their first child, a girl named Marina Emily.

The next few months are somewhat of a mystery, however, one account states Mary Ann placed her children in care as soon as Marine was weaned and then moved to Balmain (near Cockatoo Island) where she found employment as a housemaid under the name Louisa Mason. Folklore says that she frequently swam or went to the island with food for Ward and a file so he could cut through his chains. Whether or not this is true on 11 September 1863 Ward and another prisoner named Fred Britten escaped by swimming to Balmain and it is believed Mary Ann assisted in this escape. The men (and presumably Mary Ann) moved north. They were reported at Singleton in November and shortly afterwards robbed a hut near Uralla of a firearm and food. Shortly afterward both men parted company with Britten going to Victoria. Ward returned to the Hunter region and became the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. With two gangs he ranged from southern Queensland to the Hunter Valley, the Liverpool Plains, west to Bourke and Mudgee and around Armidale and Uralla. It was south of Uralla at Kentucky Creek that he was finally chased and shot and killed by Constable Alexander Binning Walker on 20 May 1870.

Despite having two children (and a third in March 1866) all evidence indicates that Mary Ann accompanied Ward and the gang on some of its depredations although she may not have been armed. Also, she seems to have been very adept at finding food and shelter for the gang in the mountainous terrain in which they concentrated most of their activities, including catching and butchering stolen cattle. She also seems adapt at going into townships undetected to obtain supplies or information about police and coach movements as well as the latest gossip. Several reports report her as looking like a young man wearing knee-length, Wellington boots, moleskin trousers, Crimean shirt, monkey jacket and a cabbage tree hat, the dress of the flash stockmen of the day (and at a time when women didn't wear men's clothing). Also, she rode astride and not sidesaddle.

She was obviously a very intelligent and smart woman. She was also reported as being very attractive. Although a half-caste she was only slightly darker of complexion than most country women and had European looks rather than Aboriginal. Her weakness was that she fell in love with the wrong man but even there she was proud of her association with Ward. On several occasions she referred to herself as the "Captain's Lady" and held her head high when she said so. Also, she was totally loyal to Ward, a sentiment that may not have been so fully returned by the good "Captain".

Despite her circumstances, including being on the run and hiding from the police, she endeavoured to spend as much time as she could with her children. This was to get her into trouble and she was arrested on three occasions and charged with vagrancy and receiving stolen goods. On one occasion Ward rescued her from a station where she was being held, while on another she served three months of a prison sentence before outcry in Parliament saw her released.

As with much of her life there is controversy about her death. This has resulted from the discovery of two death certificates. According to the first account while she was in gaol Ward, who is known to have had affairs with other women, finally abandoned her and took off with another half caste called Louisa Mason, or "Yellow Long"/Yellilong. Mary Ann was so distraught at his treachery that she actively helped the police in their attempts at running him to earth before leaving the area and marrying a man named John Burrows at Cooyal near Mudgee. She had previously been married to a man named Patrick McNally who lived near Stroud. She had married Burrows around 1861 and died on 02 April 1905, aged 70 years. At the time she had three children from her marriage to McNally and ten to her marriage to Burrows. From the birth registrations of one of the children her maiden name is given as Burgess and her birthplace as Gloucester. There are many coincidences here with Mary Ann Bugg and many historians are convinced this woman and the Captain's Lady are one and the same.

The second account is based on a Birth Certificate for a Mary Ann, daughter of James Brigg, later Bugg, and his wife Charlotte, who died of pneumonia on the Goulburn River west of Muswellbrook on 11 November 1867 soon after being taken to the house of a Mrs. Bradford. Mrs. Bradford had been approached by a grieving Ward who said the woman was to be found in a gunyah near by. The woman was dying and he asked if Mrs. Bradford could care for her or, if not, report the circumstances to the police. Mrs. Brasford subsequently found the woman and took her to her house but she died overnight. Soon afterwards the newspapers were reporting that Louisa Mason, alias Yellow Long, had died of pneumonia.

Who was this woman? Was it Mary Ann who, knowing she was dying, had left her children after disappearing, and rejoined Ward for a last few days, weeks or months in the bush? Or was it indeed a new woman, Louisa Mason. Again, there are some strange coincidences. Mary Ann allegedly used the name Louisa Mason during the time she was supposedly in Balmain preparing for Ward's escape from Cockatoo Island. She is believed to have used other aliases from time to time and may have also been known as Yellow Long. Possibly she is the same person. Certainly she is known to have shown grief at Ward's apparent betrayal and to have 'assisted' the police. However, many historians are convinced this was a ruse on her part to mislead the police who at the time were getting close to the bushranger. Her 'assistance' was worthless.

Whatever the truth, with her passing Australia's colonial history lost another extraordinary person. She was a clever and talented individual, spirited, perhaps a bit of a larrickin, a mother and a loyal partner. The sort of person that colonial Australia of the 1860s needed, and possibly ahead of her time. She may be criticised for her willing involvement with one of Australia's most notorious villains but she is not the first or last woman who may be 'guilty' of letting her heart rule her head. At least with Ward she was given the opportunity to show her spirit and determination at a time when most women were subjugated to a life of raising kids and crops. To quote White, "it is questionable if ever bushranger had a mate more serviceable or devoted." Let us remember her for the free spirit she was, the many fine qualities she displayed and the hope that her life was happy and her death quick and painless. Let us also hope that her descendants remain true to her memory.

This article © Andrew Stackpool, 1998.