Mary Ann Bugg

Mary Ann Bugg (7 May 1834 – 22 April 1867) was one of two notable female bushrangers in mid 19th century Australia.

Mary Ann Bugg, was born at the Berrico outstation near Gloucester, New South Wales, Australia on 7 May, 1834. to James Bugg, who was born in Essex, England in 1801, who was convicted of stealing meat (two lambs, a wether sheep and two pigs) and his aboriginal wife Charlotte the eldest of eight at the Essex Asally was a farmer at Cooyal north of Mudgee, and it was there in 1860 that Mary Ann met ticket-of-leave convict Frederick Ward (later to become bushranger Captain Thunderbolt).She had a daughter named Marina Emily and her husband [Captain Thunderbolt] was prisoned two times in Cockatoo Island. Mary Ann was prisoned once on Cockatoo Island. She is known as the Captain's Lady.

Mary Ann fell pregnant soon after meeting Fred Ward (Captain Thunderbolt). Ward took her back to her father's farm at Monkerai near Dungog for the baby's delivery, and their daughter Marina Emily was born late in 1861. In taking Mary Ann to Monkerai, however, Ward was in breach of the ticket-of-leave regulations which required him to remain in the Mudgee district and to attend three-monthly musters. As it turned out, he was late returning for the muster, and he compounded the problem by riding into town on a horse claimed by the owner to have been "stolen" (although the owner admitted during Ward's trial that the horse had simply gone missing and that he had heard that it had been seen near Cooyal but had not tried to retrieve it). Ward's ticket-of-leave was revoked, and he was returned to Cockatoo Island to serve the remaining six years of his previous ten-year sentence, along with an additional three years for being found in possession of a stolen horse.

Most Thunderbolt books claim that Mary Ann helped Ward escape from Cockatoo Island, one of the few successful escapes during the island's history as a penal settlement, however this is not correct. Mary Ann, in fact, remained in the Dungog district where she was working to support herself and her two youngest children. She did not meet up with Ward again until after his escape from Cockatoo Island in September 1863.

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