Mary Ann Parker

Mary Ann Parker (1765/6–1848) was an English traveller and writer whose 1795 book A Voyage Round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War included the first published description by a woman of an Australian colony.

She travelled to New South Wales and back in 1791–2 on board the frigate HMS Gorgon which was captained by her husband John Parker.

[4] Parker was generally positive about the settlement and Governor Phillip's paternalistic rule, though concerned about the death toll amongst transported convicts.

[6] This book was not only the first description of the first Australian colony by a woman, but the first personal published account of Port Jackson by a private citizen.

[1] The title page read "A Voyage round the World, in the Gorgon Man of War: Captain John Parker.

Budworth, like John Parker, was a veteran of the Siege of Gibraltar and wrote a poem on that subject to drum up interest in A Voyage round the World.

[3] Nichols wrote a complimentary review in the Gentleman's Magazine, with hints of the exotic curiosities described in the book – rose-apples at the Cape, kangaroo meat at Port Jackson – and ending with the information that Mrs Parker had given birth to a boy just days after getting back home in June 1792.

[3] She had to apply for assistance from a charitable fund administered by Budworth, Nichol and others, but eventually lost her house and spent some time in a debtors' prison.

[3] 10 I have a letter in my possession, dated August 22,1826 from "Point Levy, opposite Quebec" to Mrs. White, Hertford, England, written by Mary Ann Parker.