Mary Thomas: Founding Mother

In 1836 Mary Thomas, aged 49, abandoned her comfortable life and home in the centre of London for a tent in the sandhills of Holdfast Bay in the new colony of South Australia. Mary Thomas: Founding Mother is the story of her struggle to hold her family together through controversies and conflicts, economic difficulties and tragedy; a tale of endurance and ultimately of triumph against the odds.

Elizabeth (Beth) Duncan was born at Glenelg, South Australia, a descendant of emigrants who reached the colony in 1839. After completing her schooling in South Australia she worked on a Northern Territory cattle station as a governess for two years, before undertaking nursing training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Following the completion of a Diploma in Social Studies at the University of Adelaide she worked as a social worker in Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane, later gaining her Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Queensland. After returning to Adelaide, Beth and her architect husband lived and worked on a small farm in the Adelaide Hills, before retiring in 1989. Since then Beth has followed her interests in writing and history, completing the Advanced Diploma of Arts (Professional Writing) at Adelaide TAFE in 2003. This is her first book.