She was born Sheila Mary Wilson on 25 June 1929 in
Birmingham in the UK, to parents Alfred (Alf) and Laura (Phyl). When she was
less than two years old the family migrated to Tasmania; her sister Margaret
was born here in 1932. They lived and
farmed near Smithton and North Motton, where Phyl kept a small library for
local borrowers. When the family moved
to Launceston, Mary went at first to West Launceston Primary School, then to
Broadland House as a boarder during the war years.
After matriculating, with university not being an option financially, Mary began work at 17 at the Launceston Public Library in the old Mechanics’ Institute building. It was in her first year there that, remarkably, she fulfilled an ambition to learn to fly an aeroplane. The war years had been full of tales of heroes like Guy Gibson and the Dam Busters, and they renewed a popular interest in flight. Mary became one of those enthusiasts, and it took great dedication to follow it through. Her father had to lend her the money required – 10 shillings a time – and Mary had to cycle out to the Tas Aero Club at Western Junction for lessons; in fact it wasn’t until her 40s that Mary actually got her car driving licence. Eventually she passed her solo pilot’s test and flew locally; she remarked later that she followed the railway lines to avoid getting lost on the way home. She entered an Examiner competition for a scholarship for further training as did two other girls, but it was one of the many male applicants who won it.
In her first year at the library, Wal Sutherland, the
Assistant Librarian, saw her promise and encouraged her to undertake training
at Sydney Public Library. In 1948 it had an associated Library School, so she
gained valuable experience in a large city library and training in
librarianship. She later reminisced on having a wonderful time, let loose as a
youngster to explore the city. Wal had come up to Sydney at one point
ostensibly on library business, but was there, she felt sure, also to check up
on her. At the end of the year she was awarded a Preliminary Certificate in
Librarianship. She returned to work in the Reference section and was appointed
Assistant Cataloguer under Thelma Masters. Because her duties involved typing
up catalogue cards she was trained in touch typing in Launceston. Unfortunately
the time away in Sydney broke her contact with flying, and she never went back
to it, though she kept her helmet and goggles, which her grandchildren, in time, wore for
dress-ups.
In 1952 she married Bruce Dent, and they bought 40 acres in
Underwood. The following year they moved to Geeveston where Bruce had been
appointed a Horticultural Extension Officer in the Agriculture Dept. At her
departure Wal Sutherland gave her a glowing reference, praising her intelligence
and character, as well as her work skills. When Bruce left his job at Geeveston
they moved back north to settle on their property in Underwood, where Bruce
established a nursery growing apple seedlings for Tamar Valley orchardists.
They later diversified into birch seedlings and shrubs and flowers.
They had two daughters, Sarah and Penelope, and in 1960 when
the children were still very young, Mary started back at the Launceston Public
Library part-time at two days a week. She and the girls would take the school
bus to Launceston where the girls went to a crèche in the house which is now a
doctor’s surgery in Civic Square, and later to Broadland House. The family also
ran a very small general store from an addition to the front of their home in
Underwood, and like her mother, Mary started a small library where local
residents could borrow books. She was never away from librarianship!
It was shortly after Mary returned to Launceston that Phil
Leonard, who had owned a farm in Kenya, came to Tasmania. Well-read and drawn
towards librarianship, though without professional qualifications, Phil became
a member of staff, beginning as a relief Bookmobile driver in 1962. He studied
librarianship part-time alongside his full-time duties, becoming the Reference Librarian
in 1967, and on Wal Sutherland’s death in 1970, City Librarian. He was in the
role when the old Mechanics’ Institute was pulled down in 1971 and library
services were provided in the brand new, purpose-built Northern Regional
Library. It is still in current use and now almost 50 years old.
After her initial library training in Sydney, Mary worked
under the highly-respected Assistant Librarian, Miss Masters, in the Reference
Library, and increasingly moved from cataloguing towards local history. After
Miss Master’s death, Mary shared the management of the Local History area with
Val Walkem, both part-time. When the
changeover to the new premises occurred they had an office on the Second Floor
in a fine blackwood-panelled room with glass-fronted cabinets and a portrait of
Sir Richard Dry. It is now the Phil Leonard Room. It became her domain and she
was particularly proud of it, especially after her previous dark and dingy
quarters in the old Mechanics’. She trained up others in local history to share
her role, including Nell Joyce and Dorothy Rosemann. In the later 1970s Mary
took on demanding in-service studies through the Australian Library Association
and gained her full professional qualifications in 1981.
It was in her role in the Local History section that she
gave vital support and guidance to history researchers. She put a huge amount
of time into maintaining a card index and cuttings files which were the basis
of a reference source for many well-known historians, authors and broadcasters such as Dr Clifford Craig, Hawley
Stancombe, Jack Branagan, KR von Stieglitz, Max Oldaker, Brian Plomley, Patricia and Eric Ratcliff and
Dennis Hodgkinson. She also gave
invaluable assistance to many visiting scholars who were drawn to
Launceston Library by its rich collection of rare Australian books. Mary
particularly remembered the visits of Sir John Ferguson who was compiling
his standard reference work on pre-1850 publications, Bibliography of Australia.
In addition to her work in the Library Mary prepared indexes to several important Tasmanian books that until then had lacked them, most notably West's History of Tasmania, Button's Flotsam and Jetsam, and Tasmania's North East by AW Loone. These indexes have been lifesavers to many librarians over the years. She typed some of Clifford Craig’s books, earning his acknowledgment, like this one in 1982:
I also wish to thank Mr P F Leonard, Librarian of the Northern Regional Library, Launceston, and his staff, particularly Mrs Mary Dent of the Local History Collection. In her professional capacity, she found and described many new prints. In her own time she has typed the manuscript with great care more than once. Indeed she cannot be given enough praise for all that she did in seeing this book to the press.
Mary fiercely defended the local history collection that had
been established in the Mechanics’ Institute days of Alex Johnson and Joe
Forward. They had a remarkable history of custodianship from 1860 to 1945; in
the latter years Thelma Masters carried the banner and passed it to Mary, who
valued highly the remarkable collective legacy created by the city, for the
city. Phil Leonard, whose leadership was greatly respected by staff and the
public, fought tooth and nail to thwart the State Library’s wish that these
unique resources be located in Hobart. His tenacity prevailed with Mary acting
as guardian on watch. Mary undertook the enormous task of compiling a schedule of the
significant items in the Launceston Library whose ownership was to remain
vested in the Launceston Corporation after the transfer of
library management from the City Council to the State Library of Tasmania
in 1974. It was a task which took her two years to complete in addition to her
usual duties at the library.
Mary retired in 1988, after giving more than 40 years’
professional service to the Launceston Library. She settled back on the farm at
Underwood until 1993, when it was sold and she and Bruce moved to Launceston.
In 1994 they moved to The Manor when it was first built. She became its
librarian, and continued to help researchers.
She attended the chapel there and was for many years the Secretary of
the Residents’ Committee; she was also a member of Probus. She lived at The
Manor for the last 27 years of her life, more than half of it after Bruce’s
death in 2003.
Mary working with the FOLMI volunteers in 2015. An 'Examiner' photo
In 2013, Mary became a founding
member of the Friends of the Launceston Mechanics' Institute. She played a key
role in recording the surviving collection of the Institute and indexing its
records, giving many hours of voluntary work to the group over the next
eight years. Mary's extraordinary memory and her readiness to share her
knowledge of the Institute made an invaluable contribution to the work of
FOLMI. Through the group’s efforts the nationally significant collection has
survived to be conserved in Launceston together with the heritage materials kept in the
Local Studies Collection in Launceston Library and the Institute’s records in
QVMAG.
From her many friends, colleagues, history researchers and
collaborators over two generations Mary will be remembered with great
affection. Always direct and clear-sighted, she was loyal to her principles and
loyal to the goals of her profession. The fields in which she worked are the
richer for her contribution, and Launceston the beneficiary of her dedication to
librarianship and local history.
Contributed by Friends of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute
A version of this tribute was published in The Examiner, 17 August, 2021, p10.
