Mary Anne was born in Irish Town near Clarence Town in 1846. She remained at Mill Creek when Tom, John, William and Agnes moved to the new selection at Sherwood.
She was an accomplished horsewoman, and rode with the boys on the journey north with the cattle and drays loaded with the family’s furniture and possessions.
Mary Anne married John Barrie, publican of the Commercial Hotel on Barrie’s corner in Central Kempsey. Their first child, Margaret, was born in 1876.
Miraculously, Mary Anne gave birth to quadruplets in 1877 – James, Mary, Joseph and Catherine. The couple had six other children after the quadruplets.
John Barrie died in 1903 and Mary Anne continued to run their properties with the help of her sons and daughter. She passed away in 1923.