ARTIST CONRAD MARTENS IN SYDNEY

English-born watercolour artist, Conrad Martens, was in Sydney at the same time as George Mawbey and his young family.
Martens arrived in Sydney in 1835 and made his living doing watercolour paintings then lithographs of local scenes.
In 1851, after George Mawbey had moved west to Dural near Parramatta, Martens sailed to Brisbane from where he travelled back to Sydney overland, painting as he went.
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In 1833, he had been engaged as a draughtsman on HMS Beagle and had formed a life-long friendship with fellow traveller, Charles Darwin.

MARY ANN MAWBEY (NEE EDWARDS)

Yesterday I found the teaching records of my paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Mawbey, at State Records NSW. She tried teaching for a short time in 1885-86, and then went back to it in 1891.
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Her first teaching experience was at Jiggi Provisional school located north of Lismore on the NSW Far North Coast.
She was appointed on 6 November 1885 but resigned, without giving any reason, from 30 June 1886.
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When she returned to the teaching service, she was placed on probation at Summer Hill Public Infants in Sydney.
She then had to pass three qualifiying exams before she could be admitted to the teacher Training School.
After struggling to pass the first one, she then passed the other two and went on to pass the entry exam for the Training School, although she did not gain a scholarship.
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She was then 'removed' to Stanmore Public Infants, not far from Summer Hill.
It appears her performance was not satisfactory because she was then instructed to 'act' as a teacher ('acting teacher') at one place, and then at Breelong West Provisional commencing 31 January 1899.
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She failed to gain classification at an exam in June 1899 and was then instructed to continue to 'act' as a teacher at Woodfield Probational and then Woodfield Public.
Her next appointment was to Lithgow Public Girls as an assistant teacher on 90 pounds per annum.
She had previously been earning 88 pounds per annum.
Her final two appointments were in the Newcastle area at Wallsend Girls Public and Wickham Infants.

                                                           Wickham Infants (built 1892)
                                                                   (Source: Wikipedia)

 Mary Ann Edwards resigned without gratuity on 25 September 1903.
She then married John Thomas Mawbey Jnr and went on to have 16 pregnancies (according to one her sons) of which nine bore fruit.

MAWBEY ENGLISH ROOTS BLOG

The English Mawbey family pedigree can be seen on one of my other associated blogs, Mawbey Family Australia - English Roots (listed on this blog's sidebar).
The link to the pedigree is called Mawbey - UK pedigree. 

SMITH/CLARKE FAMILY AT ORANGE

Three members of the Smith/Clarke family were living at Orange in central western NSW in the early 1900s:
Sarah Ann Appledore, d.1910 - sister of Sarah Mawbey's mother, Elizabeth Clarke (nee Smith);
Betsy Perry (nee Clarke) d.1940 - Sarah Mawbey's younger sister;
Harold Clarke, d.1914 - Sarah Mawbey's younger brother.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 15 October 1910
APPLEDORE. — October 7, at Orange, suddenly, from heart failure, Sarah Ann, relict of the late Thomas Appledore, of Penrith, in her 69th year.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday 7 October 1913
APPLEDORE.—In sad but loving memory of my dear uncle, Thomas Appledore, who departed this life on June 29, 1910, aged 73 years late of Penrith, also my dear aunt Sarah Ann Appledore, who departed this life on October 7, 1911, aged 60 years. Inserted by their loving niece, E. Clemson.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 19 December 1940
PERRY.- At Orange. Mrs. Betsy Perry, beloved wife of Stephen Perry, mother of Hilda Ivy, Una May, Thomas Leslie, Reg Gordan, Eva Stella, Roy Stanley, aged 82 years.

My great, great, great grandmothers:

Mother of James Tucker b. England?

Mother of Mary Ann Bruce b. England?

Mother of Robert Clarke b. England?

Charlotte Smith (nee Newson) b. 1814 Wickhampton, Norfolk, England

Alice Williams (nee Jones?) b. England?

Mother of George Mawbey b.England?

It's very exciting to have found the GENUKI website with lots of free online information about Norfolk because now I have a starting point for research about my Clarke and Smith families in the UK.
I now know that from 1837, births deaths and marriages in the parts of Nofolk where my ancestors lived were registered in the Blofield Registration District.
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Interestingly, the name Mawbey is thought to have some connection with the town of Mautby on the Norfolk coast.

MY ANCESTORS' NORFOLK VILLAGES

Until today I did not know where Robert Clarke, the father of Sarah Mawbey, came from.
The State Records NSW online passenger lists reveal he came from Postwick [pron. possick], Norfolk.
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GENUKI (UK & Ireland Genealogy) has a charming description of the place from William White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, 1845.
In summary it says that Postwick, a parish of 241 souls, sits in a romantic glen which opens to the vale of the [River] Yare, near Yarmouth, and that most of the soil is owned by the Earl of Rosebery [Lord of the Manor].
The village is located 4 miles east of Norwich.
Some local residents of Postwick are listed in this directory, but no Clarkes.
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Cantley, Norfolk is where Robert's wife, Elizabeth's father, Samuel Smith, came from.
According to the above source, Cantley is also near the River Yare.
It has a population of 210 souls and the Lord of the Manor is William Alexander Gilbert, Esq.
The village is 10 miles east of Norwich and 9 miles west of Great Yarmouth.
Among the local residents listed in the 1845 directory is a Mary Smith, shopkeeper.
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The compiler of this information on GENUKI is Pat Newby.