The Australian Women's Register

Jane Barker was the wife of Bishop Frederic Barker. Growing up, she was greatly influenced by her father, Irishman John Harden, her mother, and her pious aunt Agnes Ranken. Jane ran the family home after her mother’s death, and married Frederic Barker – then vicar of the Liverpool parish of Edge Hill – when she was in her mid-thirties. They arrived in Australia in 1855 following Barker’s invitation to be second bishop for the See of Sydney. Jane travelled widely with her husband and established an Anglican boarding school for girls, St Catherine’s, at Waverley. She served on various ladies’ committees and taught at the Randwick Sunday School.