Design and Art Australia Online

sketcher and teacher, was born at sea outside Sydney Heads on 2 March 1794, eldest of the eight children of Rev. Samuel Marsden and Elizabeth, née Fristan. In 1800 she was sent to England in the company of Rev. and Mrs James Fleet Cover to be educated at Hull, Yorkshire, in the care of her maternal grandmother and her aunt, Mrs Betty Scott. She remained in England until she was eighteen. After returning to New South Wales, she and her sister Elizabeth conducted a Sunday School for their father at Parramatta, teaching over 100 Aboriginal children to read and write. The first superintendent was Thomas Hassall, later Samuel Marsden’s curate, whom Ann married on 12 August 1822. They had three sons and five daughters, including Catherine Elizabeth Hassall . Ann was said to have been a woman of determination who had considerable influence with both father and husband.

In a letter of 25 March 1817 to a family friend, Mrs Stokes, Ann Marsden wrote that she was sending her a view of Parramatta which was 'very much like it tho’ wretchedly painted’. A painting of her father’s Georgian brick rectory (Pudsey Municipal Library, Yorkshire) has also been attributed to her. Unsigned sketches in family papers in England are presumed to be either by Ann or her sisters. Like many women, she also sewed and embroidered; a finely sewn riding habit shirt embroidered in cross-stitch with the initial 'A’ is believed to have been made as well as worn by her (Powerhouse Museum, Sydney).

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011