Mary Emelia Mayne
Mary Emelia Mayne, was an Australian philanthropist.
Early life
Mayne was born in Brisbane, Colony of New South Wales in 1858. The area would become part of the Colony of Queensland in 1859. Mary Emelia Mayne was the second youngest of five children of Irish parents, Patrick Mayne, a butcher and grazier, and his wife Mary McIntosh Mayne. She attended All Hallows' School, a Catholic girls' school in Brisbane, until 1877. Thereafter she oversaw and hostessed many functions at Moorlands, the family home at Auchenflower. She and her siblings all inherited real estate, giving them independent means. Neither she nor her siblings would marry.James O'Neil Mayne
James O'Neil Mayne, one of her brothers, attended Brisbane Grammar School, graduated with a B.A. from the University of Sydney in 1884, and studied medicine at University College London, receiving the qualifications of Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 1890. James Mayne worked as a doctor at the Brisbane General Hospital from 1891 until 1898. James O'Neil Mayne died at Moorlands.Philanthropy
The Mayne family made Moorlands available to the Red Cross working parties during World War I, and contributed to the Anglican St Martin's War Memorial Hospital.James and Mary Emelia Mayne became the principal benefactors of the University of Queensland giving it 280 hectares of land at Pinjarra Hills for agricultural education in 1923. After negotiations beginning in 1926, they paid a further £63,000 to resume over 281 hectares at St Lucia. This site became the current University of Queensland campus.