Mary Skipper,
THE second daughter of the late Mr. Robert Thomas (founder of the Press in South Australia), was born August 30, 1823, in London. She arrived in this colony in 1836, with her father, in the "Africaine," and was present at the proclamation of the colony. Her literary tastes were of no mean order; she wrote some clever poetical and prose productions and was also skilful with her pencil. A journal of colonial experiences, dating from the earliest history of the province, and carried on up to a few years ago, by her, is still in existence, and valuable from a historical point of view, as she was a keen observer and shrewd reasoner. In her youth this lady was a fearless horsewoman, and delighted to make long excursions into the hilly country, a rather hazardous undertaking, as it required some nerve to penetrate into the roadless regions surrounding the Adelaide of thirty or forty years ago. In 1856 she married the late J. M. Skipper, and died on the anniversary of their silver wedding. As one of that small band of "women pioneers," who went through all the vicissitudes of those early hard times, and saw the progress of this young colony from its commencement, she took a deep, intelligent interest in the march of events, and had she been spared, could have contributed much reliable and valuable information concerning the first settlement. Of the old pioneers she wrote the following:—
"I can bat sing in mournful strain,
When I recall those earlier years,
And those we ne'er shall meet again—
The lost and loved bold pioneers.
Who marked the track? who broke the soil?
Who shared oar mingled hopes and fears,
'Mid nights of peril, days of toil,
Bat those old dauntless pioneers?
There's scarce a scene I can retrace
Without some sad regretful tears
For each familiar form and face
Of those fine brave old pioneers."