Mary Ellen Cuper facts for kids

Mary Ellen Cuper (born around 1847 – died January 12, 1877) was an amazing Australian woman. She worked as a telegraphist and a postmistress. This means she helped send messages using telegraphs and managed a post office.

Mary Ellen was born as Ellen Pangieran in Western Australia. When she was young, her father left her family. She was then sent to New Norcia to get an education.

She got married for the first time when she was 15. Sadly, her first husband passed away soon after. Later, she married Benedict Cuper.

A man named Rosendo Salvado taught Mary Ellen how to use the telegraph. She then became the very first postmistress of New Norcia. She even trained another woman, Sarah Ninak, to be a telegraphist. Sarah later took over her job for a while. Mary Ellen Cuper died when she was about 30 years old from a sickness called tuberculosis.

Mary Ellen's Early Life

Mary Ellen Cuper was born in 1847 in Bunbury, Western Australia. Her birth name was Ellen Pangieran. Her father was European, and her mother, Yanjipp, was an Aboriginal woman from Australia.

When Mary Ellen was a child, her father left the family. The government decided that her mother might not be able to raise her alone. So, in 1862, Mary Ellen was sent to a Benedictine mission in New Norcia. A mission is a place where people, often religious, help and educate others. Here, she received her education.

On December 8, 1862, when she was 15, she married Peter Nhawer. But Peter died very soon after their marriage. On April 6, 1863, she married again to Benedict Cuper. Benedict was a farmer and also played cricket. His father was from England, and his mother was an Aboriginal Australian. Benedict had been married once before. Mary Ellen and Benedict had a child together, but sadly, the baby died when it was very young.

Her Career as a Telegraphist

Rosendo Salvado taught Mary Ellen Cuper how to be a telegraphist. This meant she learned to send messages using a telegraph line. She learned morse code in August 1873. Morse code is a special way of sending messages using dots and dashes.

The telegraph line started at a post office in Victoria Plains. This post office had opened in April 1857. The line stretched all the way to Geraldton. In May 1873, the person in charge of the post office (the postmaster) suddenly left.

James Fleming, who was the superintendent of telegraphs, heard about Mary Ellen. Salvado told him that he knew an Aboriginal woman who could read, write, and knew telegraph coding very well. She wanted the job. However, Fleming worried that Mary Ellen might not be a steady worker. He thought they should find someone who would be happy with just a small salary and a place to live.

Despite his concerns, Salvado strongly supported Mary Ellen for the job. Because of his support, she was able to get the position. Mary Ellen Cuper became the first postmistress of New Norcia. She started working in August 1873. She was officially appointed in January 1874, earning £30 a year. By this time, her name was listed as Helen Cuper in the postal records.

People said she was better at her job than any other new telegraph worker the superintendent had ever seen. In the 1870s and 1880s, postal officials visited Mary Ellen and other postmasters. They even asked for their photographs because they thought they were "exceptional" at their jobs.

Training Sarah Ninak

In late 1875, Mary Ellen started to have health problems. She couldn't work as much as before. So, she began training Sarah Caruingo Ninak to be a telegraphist. In 1876, Sarah Ninak took temporary charge of the New Norcia office.

At this time, William Cleaver Francis Robinson, who was the governor of Western Australia, visited New Norcia. He was very impressed with Sarah's work as the postmistress. He sent her photograph and a letter praising her to London. He wrote:

I found ‘Sarah’ in sole charge of the office, the duties of which she had proved herself fully capable of discharging. …I believe I was justified in congratulating her on being the first pure-bred Aboriginal to attain to a position of such trust in the service of the Government.

This shows how important and skilled Sarah was in her role.

Mary Ellen's Death

In 1875, Mary Ellen Cuper became sick with tuberculosis. This is a serious illness that caused her health to get worse. After a while, Sarah Ninak also became ill. Both of them, along with Carmine Gnarbak (another postmistress), decided to retire. They followed an Aboriginal custom of "avoiding a place associated with death." This meant they moved away from the place where someone might pass away.

Mary Ellen Cuper died on January 12, 1877. She was buried in the cemetery at New Norcia. Her husband, Benedict, remarried in 1893 to Matilda Murricherry.