Mary met her first husband William (Bill) Thomas while working at the Central Hotel and despite his fondness for alcohol, Mary fell for his Irish charm.
After marrying, Bill convinced Mary to join him in establishing a farm in Harvey. While she was reluctant to leave Perth, Mary was determined to make a success of any venture and she joined Bill in clearing the land for wheat. However, constant struggles with kangaroo mobs made their efforts difficult. To address these challenges, Mary leased a nearby boarding house, applying her landlady skills to secure a more stable income.
By 1911, as the farm continued to fail and Bill’s alcohol consumption increased, Mary decided to return to Perth. There, she lived in one of her former rental properties and resumed work as a barmaid to grow funds and expand her real estate investments. In the following years, she bought and sold several properties in Subiaco, East Perth, and Perth, including the Bon Ton Café in 1915. When that business thrived, she acquired a second café nearby, the Popular Café, and saw potential in East Perth, where she built a small row of houses.
During this time, Bill remained mostly in Harvey, but the failed marriage came to a final end in 1918 when he died after falling from a horse.

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