Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Jane Prior was born in 1855 in Victoria, Australia – the daughter of Edwin Prior and Annabella Williams.
She emigrated to New Zealand in the 1870s with her family and they settled in Queenstown.
Mary married William Mulholland, the master of the steamer Jane Williams, on 4 May 1882 at her home in Queenstown. They had nine children and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were still living in Queenstown.
William later went gold mining then coal mining at Kaitangata and two of their sons died during the First World War.
William died in 1922 and Mary died on 7 February 1936, they are buried together in the Queenstown Cemetery.
Her obituary said she 'was of a very unassuming and retiring nature, and one possessed of many domestic virtues, chief among which was her devotion to her home and family.
She was a gentle and kindly woman, full of wisdom and understanding, and much given to unostentatious hospitality.'
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au