| Mary Theresa Vidal | |
| Birth Name: | Mary Theresa Johnson |
| Birth Date: | 23 June 1815 |
| Birth Place: | Torrington, Devon, England |
| Death Place: | Sutton, Suffolk, England |
| Occupation: | novelist |
| Relatives: | William Johnson Cory (brother, inter alia) |
| Years Active: | 1845–1866 |
Mary Theresa Vidal (née Johnson) (23 June 1815 – 19 November 1873) was a British–Australian writer described as Australia's first female novelist.
Mary was born in Devon, England, the daughter of Britton William Johnson and his wife, Mary Theresa, daughter of P. W. Furse. The poet William Johnson, who took the name of Cory in 1872, was a younger brother. In 1840 she married the Rev. Francis Vidal and came with him to Australia. Her husband had an extensive parish to the south-west of Sydney, at Penrith.
In 1845, Vidal's first book, Tales for the Bush, was published in Sydney, apparently intended as an instructive work for her servants.[1] Soon afterwards she returned with her husband to England. Ten other volumes of tales and novels were published between 1846 and 1866. She sometimes made use of her experiences in Australia, especially in Bengala, or Some Time Ago (1860). Some of these books ran into more than one edition. She died in 1873 and was survived by her husband, six sons (including George William Vidal) and a daughter.
. Debra Adelaide. Australian women writers: a bibliographic guide. 1988. Pandora. 978-0-86358-148-9.