Hi Kellie,

The mother is listed just as "Catherine Unknown". But since it was my Dad's direct maternal line that we did Mitochondrial DNA on and it came up as M42a, we know she had to be Aboriginal.
It's so vague this side of my family. All I know for sure was that Mary Stephenson was working as a domestic servant on a large property in the Young district at the time of her marriage to Alexander Potts (an Englishman) and it states on her marriage and death cert she was born between Bathurst and Orange in about 1853. I think she said she was 21 at the time of her marriage because she didn't have parents around to give permission. So her parents names could be completely made up or they could be who she said they are. Like you said, I don't think they were married....no one married full blood aboriginals anyway. She would be from the Wiradjuri tribe but that's all I'll ever know about her me thinks!
This Henry Stephenson is a mystery to me. And it raises questions about Mary's early life, did she live with both or one of her parents? If it was a one off "fling" and Henry wasn't around, how did Mary even know her father's name? Etc.
I've read elsewhere that many Wiradjuri fled to the Young area because of conflicts with whites, so that may explain how she ended up there to some degree.
So I've tried to find out about this elusive Henry Stephenson as much as I can, I don't think he ever married in NSW and I'm not even sure if he died in NSW. I bought a death cert for a Henry Stephenson who died in the Golburn area but I don't think that is him.
Family history really drives me nuts sometimes.

Sarah