Jane Macartney

Jane Macartney (born Jane Hardman) (19 January 1803 – 10 January 1885) was an Australian philanthropist, religious worker and teacher in Melbourne and surrounding regions in the 1800s. An Irish member of the Church of England, she was married to the Dean of St James Church of England cathedral, Melbourne, Hussey Burgh Macartney. Her position as wife of the Dean enabled her to help establish the Orphan Asylum, the Carlton Refuge, the Melbourne Home and the Lying-In Hospital, along with Frances Perry, the wife of Bishop Charles Perry. Her work in Melbourne was a continuation of her earlier charitable works in Ireland and regional Victoria, where she set up and taught in girls' Sunday Schools and visited poor families, especially assisting young mothers.
Personal life and religion.
Jane Macartney was born Jane Hardman at Castle Bellingham in Ireland, daughter of Edward Hardman an Irish parliamentarian and Rebecca M'Clintock. As a young women, she became a Christian and a member of the Church of England and began her lifelong ministry of establishing schools, charitable institutions and visiting underprivileged families. Jane's later diaries show she was a woman of faith and daily prayer believing her calling was to minister to mothers and poor families.
She married clergyman Hussey Burgh Macartney, son of Sir John Macartney, member of the Irish House of Commons and Lady Macartney, in March 1833 and moved with him to a remote and poor area of Ireland where she lived with her mother-in-law, widowed sister-in-law and two nephews. In 1843, after the death of her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law with two sons had left the household, Jane and Hussey Macartney moved to a parish near Dublin. While in Dublin, they decided to emigrate to Melbourne, Australia, then known as Port Phillip, with their eight children. On 23 January 1848, the family arrived on the ship "The Stag" in Port Phillip Bay with Bishop Charles Perry and his wife Frances Perry, the Reverend Mr Newham and his wife and child and the Reverend Mr Hales and his wife. The care and support given to each other on the voyage led to a long friendship between Frances and Jane and their partnership in charitable work. The Macartney's religious affiliation was described in 2008 as "Irish evangelicals who were about as low church as one could get, in liturgy, doctrine and manners."
On 5th August 1848, the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society recorded that Mrs Hussey Burgh Macartney of Melbourne donated a preserved albatross. After their arrival in Melbourne, Hussey Macartney was subsequently appointed by Bishop Perry to churches at Moonee Ponds, Heidelberg and Geelong, becoming Archdeacon of Geelong in October 1848 then Dean of Melbourne and St James Cathedral in 1852 and Archdeacon in 1857. In November, 1864, Jane and the family sailed to Europe and were given 300 sovereigns on their departure. They returned to Melbourne in August, 1866.
Dean Hussey Macartney administered the diocese several times when the Bishop was on leave.Jane and her family moved into the newly built Deanery in 1869 at 188 Hotham Street East Melbourne, next to Bishopcourt where Bishop Perry and his wife, Frances lived. The Deanery was a large nine-room single storey stone house with french windows leading to a return verandah and a sweeping garden. The Dean was also a landowner, buying large blocks in Hallam and Kew, although some of the land seems to have been bought for future church use rather than for the family. 
Ministry.
In Ireland as a single young woman, Jane helped establish a Girl's School in a nearby underprivileged area. With friends she raised funds to build the school house and provide a wage for additional teachers. She taught at the school and visited poorer families. After her marriage and move to the remote Irish countryside, Jane continued to visit and assist poor families, travelling by boat and carriage and also welcomed people to her house when they came for medicine and advice. When Hussey was minister in several parishes in regional Victoria, Jane taught in Sunday schools. The Sunday School movement began in the late 1790s in the UK before the introduction of universal state-funded primary schools, as a way of educating children who worked or whose parents were too poor to send them to grammar schools. Sunday schools taught literacy and numeracy as well as religion and morals. The Church of England, Presbyterians and Methodists were the leaders in providing Sunday Schools in Victoria at the time.
Jane helped Frances Perry establish the Melbourne Lying-in Hospital (named Melbourne Lying-in Hospital and Infirmary for Diseases of Women and Children) the first maternity hospital for underprivileged women in Australia (now the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne). Frances was co-founder and President, while Jane was one of twenty women on the planning committee. Two doctors, John Maund and Richard Tracy were aiming to rent a house in Albert Street, East Melbourne for a maternity hospital. The women's committee joined them, raised the funds, established and managed the hospital. The first patient was admitted on 19 August 1856. The women's management committee at first met weekly, admitted patients, appointed staff and negotiated contracts with builders and suppliers. Jane was only able to be on the committee for a year (1856-57) as she had to commit her time to other institutions.
The first planning meeting for the Carlton Women's Refuge was held in Jane's drawing room. The refuge began as a place of reform for prostitutes in 1854 then by 1860 it became a refuge for young unmarried mothers and their children. 