Mary Theresa Vidal
Australian writer
Mary Theresa Vidal (1815 – 19 November 1873) was an English novelist who was among the first writers to publish fiction about Australian life. Born in Devon in 1815, she married a clergyman and moved to Australia in 1840, before returning to England five years later. While in Australia, she published a popular collection of Christian moral tales titled Tales for the Bush, intended to provide moral and religious guidance to convict and servant readers. Upon returning to England, Vidal continued to publish novels and short stories, several of which are set in Australia. Her writing often explored domestic morality and women's place in society.
Life
Mary Theresa Vidal was born Mary Johnson in 1815 in Torrington, Devon, England. She was the daughter of William Charles Johnson and his wife Mary Theresa (née Furse). On 25 April 1835, she married a Jamaican-born curate named Francis Vidal in Ideford. He took up a position as the chaplain of Exeter Gaol and, over the next five years, Mary gave birth to three sons.
Mary and her husband moved to Sydney in 1840, joining Francis' brother George, who was the minister at Christ Church.
The public source identifies “Mary Theresa Vidal” as australian writer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mary, Theresa and Vidal.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6780823. VIAF identifies the subject as 62964736. The Library of Congress control number is n85008155. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1815, 1873, 1840 and 1835.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mary Theresa Vidal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.