Lady Mary Lennox

Mary Street, Gympie, Queensland. One of these days, I will be there when the light is in the right place :-)

A ¾ to life-sized bronze statue in Mary Street, Gympie, dipping her toe into the water — in recognition of the impact floods have had on Gympie.

The Mary River has long served as a vital artery for the Gympie region and its industries. Known as Mooraboocoola, Moocooboola and Monoboola by the indigenous people of the region, the river was named Wide Bay River by early European explorers Andrew Petrie and Henry Stuart Russell on 10 May 1842. The Mary River was officially renamed on 7 September 1847 after Lady Mary Lennox Fitzroy, months before she was tragically killed in a carriage accident.

Lady Mary Lennox was born 15 August 1790, the eldest daughter of Charles, the fourth Duke of Richmond and Charlotte, the daughter of the fourth Duke of Gordon. Lady Mary married Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy on 11 March 1820, and the couple came to Australia in 1846 when Charles became Governor of New South Wales (which included the Wide bay region then, prior to the formation of Queensland as a state).

The town centre has been flooded on a number of occasions. The largest flood on record was in February 1893, which peaked at 25.45 metres and covered most of Mary Street (named after the river) with the waterline reaching the vicinity of where the Lady Mary Statue stands today.

This statue was officially unveiled on 14 February 2017 by the Mayor of Gympie Regional Council, Mick Curran.
Artists: Gillie and Marc