The Mary Raine Story

About Mary - The Business Woman

Mary "Ma" Raine had the sort of life moviemakers dream about. The eldest of 13 children, she was born in the 1870s in Putney, London, and died 80 years later in Perth, leaving millions to medical research.  Along the way, a lifetime spent running hotels and doing real estate deals embroiled her in enough adventures to keep a scriptwriter gainfully employed.

Mary came to Australia with her sister Daisy in 1900, with £100 between them. They worked as barmaids in Queensland, Sydney and outback New South Wales. Although they planned to return to England, as destiny would have it, Perth was to become the home of Mary Raine where she settled into a life of buying up property and managing hotels.

At one stage Mary owned most of the properties on William Street in the Perth Central Business District and five hotels. She went on to amass a fortune built on shrewd investments, hard work and confidence in herself.

 

 

The Mary Raine Story

The Mary Raine Story written by Meg Sangster is a tale of triumph over privation, of determination to better her childhood circumstances, of marriage ill-fated and finally, of a happy union which ended too soon, and a financial success of epic proportions.

A twelve year personal and business relationship continuing up to the time of Mary Raine's death, placed Meg in a situation many biographers dream about. In her writing she has revealed new insights into the enigma of Mary Raine.

Mary Carter, who later became Ma Thomas and finally Mary Raine made her fortune from buying  and selling Perth real estate in the early part of the century and consolidating that with canny acquistion and management of some of the city's early hotel and commercial landmarks. Best known were the Wentworth Hotel, The United Service Hotel and the South Perth landmark, the Windsor Hotel.

Pam Casellas, The West Australian.


^{The Mary Raine Story  is available in both hard-cover and soft-cover editions from major booksellers in Perth and from the Raine Medical Research Foundation.}