Cobar Mary
New South Wales State Archives.
Louisa “Cobar Mary” Irwin was born in May 1874 in Louth, New South Wales.
Cobar Mary was a purveyor of “the oldest profession on Earth”, making her an interesting character on the opal fields.
Mary had a number of aliases, including Mary Murray, and Mary Huxley, and of course “Cobar” Mary.
She had numerous convictions for obscene language, riotous behaviour, defacing property, stealing and receiving, vagrancy and common prostitution.
In 1908, Mary was accused of the theft of £50 from a man, allegedly stealing it from him while he was asleep then attempting to abscond to Collarenebri. She was arrested and kept in custody for eight days.
“The first representative on the field of the oldest profession in the world. She once took a lot of potch and opal to White Cliffs to sell to Ted Murphy. “11/1/1908; Louisa Irwin, alias Cobar Mary, charged with larceny of £50 from a man at Lightning Ridge. Has been discharged from custody. The police failing to find sufficient incriminating evidence.””
In January of 1908 she was arrested for theft of £40, on 19 February 1908 and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at Tamworth Gaol.
She died in New South Wales.
Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Collarenebri Chronicle, 23 December 1907; Walgett Spectator, 4 January 1908, 28 March 1908; Lightning Ridge: The Land of Black Opals, Ion L. Idriess, 1940, chapter XVI, pp. 97-99.