Framed Photograph of a Young Maria Locke

John Locke (1802 - 1862) married Maria Bavage (1805 - 1894) in Bath, England around 1820.

Maria Bavage was born on 4th March 1805, in either Bath, England or Mauritius, and by all accounts she was a very spirited young woman. The story goes that as an early teen she eloped with a teenage John Locke and when finally confronted by her angry family she defiantly waved her marriage certificate in their faces. Some sources say, that in Bath, John Lock owned a bottle and leech business and a tavern called the Rainbow Inn.

Maria and John Locke had 6 children, Henry (1821-1880), John Bavage (1825-1870), William Walker (1827-?), Laura (1831-?), Charlotte (1823-1874), Elizabeth Amelia (1826-?), Anna Maria (1829-?). John, Maria and 4 of their children (John, Henry, Charlotte and Elizabeth) emigrated to Australia aboard the Trusty and arrived in the Swan River Colony on 6th December 1842. The Lockes had signed up for the 1842 Australind settlement scheme but when this quickly failed, John junior purchased 4,000 acres at Wonnerup on the Vasse Estuary and named the property Lockeville.

As the Lockeville land had not been previously cultivated, John Bavage Locke experimented using the land to farm wheat, oats and rye and met with some success. He also purchased a number of thoroughbred mares and established a stud farm. He bred the thoroughbreds with imported English horses, producing many good racing horses. He became well known in the early West Australian racing scene as well as having some success in the Melbourne racing scene.

Around 1850 Locke started building the original wattle and daub farmhouse and in 1870 a 2 storey limestone addition was added. The house is said to be the fourth homestead built in the district and was possibly constructed with the aid of convict labour. Lockeville remained in the family until 1916, when it was reputedly sold to cover gambling debts. This heritage listed farmhouse is still standing proud today.

John and Maria did not move to Wonnerup, instead they split their time between Australind and Mauritius, where John and his son Henry ran a merchant trading business. John died in Mauritius in 1862, at which time Maria moved back to WA and into Lockeville. In 1870, when her son John died, aged 45, Maria assumed the role of the “Lockeville matriarch” for her large brood of grandchildren, Eugene Norfolk Montague (1855-1931), Allen George Felix (1858-1939), Mordaunt Eustace Fitz Allen (1862-1931), Alma (1866-1888), Bertha Elvina (1868-1935), Ernest Charles Bavage (1856-1937), Justice Baron (1860-1942), Ella Mariaghita (1864-1946), Alma Leonora (1866-1943) and Henry Aubrey (1870-1875).

Maria Bavage Locke died at Lockeville on 12th June 1894.

Her granddaughter , Mrs Alma Jephson, had this to say about her grandmother

"All those who knew my grandmother enjoyed her company; she was an interesting conversationalist and very original. In appearance, she was considered very pretty, small and dainty, and very fair, with a beautiful complexion which she kept all her life."