The Scandalous Mrs Bailey.

The brief reign of an adventuress in Brisbane Town.

Brisbane Town in 1847 was a rough and ready place. Free settlement had been permitted since 1842, but settlers faced an almost complete lack of amenities and commerce. Prior to the skilled immigration movement of Dr Lang, women fell into several distinct categories: wives of Government officers and the military, hard-working wives of settlers and tradesmen, and servants and ex-convicts.

The wives of officials tended to be resilient and immensely respectable women who dauntlessly followed their menfolk to all sorts of frontier and colonial ghastliness. Wives of settlers worked hard to keep the family fed and clothed, often helping in the family business. Servant women were generally ex-convicts, although some rosy-cheeked young domestics from Ireland were causing some alarm amongst ladies who’d sacrificed the bloom of youth to heat and privation in the New World.

Cashed-up seasonal workers surged into Brisbane Town to spend their pay in rough-as-guts pubs, so undoubtedly a few full-time and part-time prostitutes offered a spot of feminine company.

There had been nothing before – and would not be for a long time after – like Mrs Bailey. She was glamorous, well-to-do (judging by the orders for her cellar, her wardrobe of silk crinolines and the elegant furnishings in her George Street villa) and Mr Bailey didn’t seem to be around to cramp her style.

Mrs Bailey appeared in Brisbane Town in 1847. She took a residence in George Street, furnished it with striking red curtains and began to make serious inroads into the affections of the 99th Regiment. 

In such a small town, everyone knew everyone else’s business, and the presence of a glamorous woman who appeared to be the toast of the regiment was duly noted. The trouble was, Mrs Bailey had the temerity to appear in public in broad daylight and use her man-slaying charms on the assembled dignitaries.

“ON Saturday morning last, a great many of the inhabitants assembled at the ship-building yard on the north bank of the river to witness the launch of Captain Deloitte’s new schooner of 62 tons burthen. The weather turned out remarkably fine, and the scene was enlivened by the presence of nearly all the ladies resident in the township. What with their gay dresses, and the bright jackets of the military, the place assumed a very lively appearance. It was quite gratifying to find that so much interest was taken in the proceedings. About the time of high water, the arrangements were completed, and the vessel was ready for launching.

Just before the launch took place, several persons prognosticated a failure, in consequence of the rather unusual circumstance of launching a vessel with the masts and standing rigging up; but the result proved that Mr. Cameron, the builder, knew very well what he was about. At the given signal, the supports having been knocked away, the vessel glided down into the river most beautifully, amidst the hearty cheers of the spectators. Miss Petrie, to whom the ceremony of christening had been confided, named her the Selina. Altogether it was a very pretty sight.”

Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 22 May 1847, page 2

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What the Moreton Bay Courier could not report was the fascinated attention paid by Captain Deloitte to Mrs Bailey, having pressed for an introduction to the charming stranger.

The assembled ladies watched on in profound, silent disapproval. The ordinary soldiers of the 99th also watched on sourly, knowing that Mrs Bailey would be travelling in more exalted circles henceforth, and the George Street villa would be closed to them.

For a few weeks, life continued quietly. Lamps flickered invitingly behind Mrs Bailey’s red curtains, but her door was closed to the hoi polloi.

This situation could not last, at least as far as the hard-drinking soldiers were concerned. There was an ugly incident that broke some windows, and it also broke Mrs Bailey’s cover, as far as the newspapers were concerned. After this public breach of the peace, the Moreton Bay Courier had no reservations about naming Mrs Bailey and her various suitors, and left little to the imagination as to why these men were at her villa. 

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.
WILFUL DAMAGE- AMATORY ADVENTURES. -At the Police-office, yesterday, Sergeant Faulkner, and two private soldiers, named John Randall and Henry Herring, belonging to the detachment of the 99th Regiment stationed in the town, were placed at the bar charged with destroying property in Mrs Bailey’s house in George-street, between the hours of twelve and one o’clock on the previous night.

Constable Macalister, on being sworn, stated that while on duty on Thursday night he observed some of the military coming out of the Victoria Hotel, and that he saw them go to Mrs. Bailey’s house where he shortly afterwards heard the breaking of panes of glass. On hearing a screech, he immediately ran to the barracks for the corporal and guard, who accompanied him to the house. All the soldiers then ran away, except two, who were taken into custody by the guard. Corporal Horan corroborated the constable’s testimony, and informed the Magistrates that Randall broke away from the soldier who had him in charge, and ran up to his room, where he put on an un-dress.

Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Featherstone, who were visiting at Mrs. Bailey’s house on the evening in question, identified the Sergeant and the prisoners at the bar as being present while the windows were being broken; Randall was the most riotous person there. When the Sergeant attempted to burst open the door, a well-directed blow from Mr. Hawkins sent him head over heels to the ground. The man of war, on finding sharper work than he had calculated upon, took to his heels, and ran to the barracks, leaving his cap behind him, which was picked up by the constable.

The Chief Constable stated that the Sergeant called upon him on the following morning, and made enquiries respecting his cap, and said that he wished to compromise the matter by paying all expenses, provided he would not inform the Police Magistrate of what had occurred. The Magistrates, after a short consultation, found all the defendants guilty, fined each of them £5, and sentenced them in default of payment to be imprisoned for two calendar months with hard labour in Sydney Gaol. They were then removed and placed in the lock-up. We understand that the fine has since been paid by Sergeant Faulkner, and that the others will also “shell out the tin” rather than go to quod.

Embarrassing for all concerned. Particularly if any of the men concerned were married. A respectable woman did not entertain men without a chaperone, and this lady had two men indoors and a small riot going on outside.

 A few weeks later, the Courier reported on Mrs Bailey’s non-attendance to answer a summons for furious riding. Needless to say, a respectable married woman did not go out horse-riding along with a man not her husband on a Saturday evening. Nor did one ride “furiously.”

Furious Riding -On Monday an information was filed by the Chief Constable against Mr. Macintyre and Mrs. Bailey, for riding furiously through the streets in North Brisbane on Saturday evening last. As neither of the defendants appeared before the Bench to answer the charge, evidence was taken in their absence, when the case was fully proved by the Chief Constable and a person named Sloan, who stated that several children playing in the public streets in the town would have been run over, had they not opportunely removed them to a place of safety on seeing the horses coming at full speed. The Bench fined each of the defendants £5 and costs, which was paid. We hope that the result of this case will operate as a caution to persons galloping through the public thoroughfares; an example was required, and we have no doubt that others who think proper to indulge in freaks of this kind will be mulcted to the same extent, as the Magistrates are determined to put down such dangerous, practices.

Two scandals that reached the Courts and the press in the space of a month. The good Christian wives of colonial officials made social life impossible, and a couple of wronged women sent threatening letters to Mr Bailey at her George Street villa.

Mrs Bailey was realistic enough to know that two public scandals would be bad for, well, business. While Mr Dowse sold all of her worldly goods for her, Mrs Bailey appeared in her most respectable garb and dispensed refreshments to bidders. Her reason for leaving? The climate was simply “too much.”

SALE BY AUCTION.
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, KITCHEN
UTENSILS, &c.
MR. T. DOWSE WILL Sell by Auction, at the residence of
MRS. BAILEY. ON MONDAY NEXT,
At 12 o’clock,
A lot of Household Furniture and Kitchen requisites—consisting of
Chest of Drawers, Couch, Dining Tables Toilet Table, Toilet and Pier Glass,
Four-post Bedstead, Cane-seated Chairs Carpet, Rug, Fender, and Fire Irons,
Crockery Glass, Kitchen Utensils, Tubs, Buckets, &c.

Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 11 September 1847, page 3

Cashed-up and waiting for her berth on a steamer for the south, Mrs Bailey could have been forgiven for thinking that Brisbane Town could not possibly dole out any more indignities.

We weren’t quite finished with her yet. We fined her ten shillings for her unregistered dog – along with a lot of other prominent citizens who had forgotten the new law existed. Indeed, one citizen was so bold as to ask why his dog should be so regulated when Constable Murphy’s pigs roamed the streets. The Bench declined to speculate.

Mrs Bailey had one last stroke of ill-fortune before she sailed.

LOST-TEN SHILLINGS REWARD.
ON Tuesday evening last, a GOLD CHASED RING, set with, pearls, (one of which is missing), and containing a small locket. Who-ever has found the same will be paid the above reward on restoring it to the owner, Mrs. Bailey, of North Brisbane.

Gold “chased” or chaste, a missing pearl. The local wits were beside themselves, at least when away from the censorious glares of their long-suffering womenfolk.

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After  leaving Brisbane Town, Mrs Bailey disappeared from public life. There was a story that had her marrying a rather respectable settler in the vicinity of Sydney, and giving him a son who became a Supreme Court Judge. Who knows what an adventuress might do?

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Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 22 May 1847, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 10 July 1847, page 2
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 11 September 1847, page 2
Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 – 1954), Sunday 31 January 1915, page 12
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 16 October 1847, page 3
Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846 – 1861), Saturday 11 September 1847, page 3