Mary Campbell Hay (1814-1900) 

Mary Hay, born in 1814, was the eldest of the four sisters. She came to Bunbury with her son, David, and the youngest of the sisters, Eliza, in 1863 when she was 49 years old.

In 1840, Mary was married to John Hay, a carpenter and shipwright, in Dundee, Scotland (reference). They had four children: John, born in 1841, died when he was 19; David Alexander, born 1844, came to Bunbury with his mother; Margaret, born in 1845, married John Storrie and settled in Glasgow; and William, born 1849, may have died in infancy (reference; reference; reference). Mary's husband, John, died in 1854, and after his death, Mary ran a store in Dundee while bringing up the children (reference).

Mary, David and Eliza came over on The Strathmore, leaving England on 22 December 1862 and arriving in the colony on 27 March 1863 (reference; reference). Soon after arrival, Mary and David acquired a ₤400 loan guaranteed by William Ramsay and used it to take over a business from Mr Hyman Lipschitz located in the Canberra Buildings in Victoria Street. They began trading as M. Hay & Son (reference; reference). A few years later, they acquired a parcel of land from Mr Lipschitz on Victoria Street that stretched from Wellington Street to Princep Street. They converted a pre-existing building on this land to the "Dundee Store", named after their hometown in Scotland. This was located at approximately 113 Victoria Street, the current Sports Marine store (reference). The store sold a mixture of goods including fresh produce, drapery, cutlery, ironmongery and confectionery (reference). 

It seems the homemade confectionery was popular, as Mr Lewis Moulton recalled in 1936 when talking about his childhood with the Spencer boys, Sir James Mitchell and Sir Newton Moore: "The boys used to go down to Mrs David Hay's store to buy lollies. Mrs Hay was an aunt of Lord Forrest and made Scotch rock" (reference).

Mr George Withers, who was employed in the store as a young boy, recalled those times in a Southern Times newspaper article in 1929: "Farmers would come in long distances and take out six months' supply, and I will remember how delighted any employer would be (I was general assistant in-store) to see them come in with a long order, which it would take probably a day to execute. There was no six o'clock closing in those days. Shutters had to be taken down at sunrise and shop swept out, and closing time was any time from 8 to 11 o'clock at night, as it suited the whim of the "boss." No annual holidays, and showtime, once a year, was a busy time for the "boy" and all hands. No chance of visiting the show grounds. There was no thought of sending out for orders, people came along and got what they wanted and carried it home — no delivery carts. The only goods I ever remember delivering were Government orders, such as gaol, hospital or lighthouse. Many a time have I carried a tin of kerosene on my shoulder (and I wasn't very big) from the shop (Mrs Hay's) to the top of lighthouse hill, and no step, but all sand. Whenever I was sent on. a message my instructions always were "Haste ye back, my boy. I'm luppnin on yon" and "the' I says it as shouldn't" I always did." 

In the same article, Mr Withers described some of the produce sold and traded by Mary and David Hays. These include:

"Bunbury has always been a good dairying district, and several family names have been prominent in that industry to the present day, notably Rose, Clifton, Johnston and other families. "Bunbury butter" (made on the farms) had such a good name that it was very common to see it posted up in the city as produced here when no doubt it never saw the district. The farmers would bring it in kegs, varying from 40 to 80 lbs. weight, and it would be shipped to Fremantle, as there were no railways in those days."

"Potatoes also were a staple product. I understand that one of our biggest growers, James Rodgers of Australind, and his sons continue on the same property. There would be great rivalry between the two chief storekeepers, Mrs Hay and Mr Spencer, for the purchase of his crop — generally paid half cash and half stores as hay and grain were not produced to any great extent, and chaff would be cut by hand cutters and put into all sorts of receptacles, including wool bales."

"Apples were brought in from Bridgetown, from Blechynden's, Allnutt's, Wheatley's and others, in bullock drays, packed in straw, in large drapery cases. They brought at the rate of 6/6 per bushel, English standard bushel measure."

"Tea and sugar was imported, chiefly by John Bateman, who had a line of sailing vessels plying between Fremantle and Singapore and Mauritius. Sugar came in "mats" of various sizes from about 40 lbs. to a hundredweight, and there were a number of grades, from brewing sugar, which had to be chopped out of the mats, to best white crystal, similar to the sugar now in common use. Tea was in packages or boxes, varying from 12Ibs. to 45lbs. Tobacco came in "quarter tierces", weighing about 3001bs. and consisted of old negro bead, generally, 16 sticks to the pound."

"Jams, sauces and other delicacies were all imported from Great Britain."

"There was always great excitement unpacking new goods.The main supplies were bought twice a year, Mrs. Hay going up by coach on Monday and generally returning on the following Tuesday — it was two days journey each way — leaving four days to complete the business and then a week or so later they arrived by boat, weather permitting."

"Treacle and honey were sold in bulk, and treacle or molasses was brought in by Yankee vessels in casks of 30 to 40 gallons. It was then emptied into a container for retail purposes."

In the same article, Mr Withers described an incident with treacle which showed that Mrs Hay could be formidable to even to her son: "I was generally sent to do this filling and on one occasion was called away while it was being drawn off and forgot to go back. Later on Mr D. A. Hay brought a customer in to sample some sugar and tea, when he found himself sticking to the floor. He was a good sport, so did not tell his mother, but advised me to clear it up, pronto! before she saw it. Needless to say I did, but 20 or 30 gallons of treacle were lost." (reference)

Mary and David expanded their business, and by 1869 had stores in Busselton and Bridgetown (reference).

Unfortunately, the business M. Hay & Son was forced into bankruptcy in 1893 (reference; reference; reference; reference). Mary applied for a discharge from bankruptcy in the same year, which must have been granted as she began trading again on a reduced scale as the Dundee Store until 1895 (reference, reference)

Mary was 86 years old when she died in 1900 (reference)

Researched by Gaye Englund for the Streets of Bunbury project.