The Chariot is the card of triumph, determination, courage, and purposeful action. Traditionally it depicts a warrior standing proudly in a chariot, focused on the road ahead. The Chariot is not a card of endless thinking or emotional hesitation. It is a card of movement. It is about taking the reins and pressing forward despite the obstacles.
The Charioteer knows where she is going and refuses to be diverted. Although the two sphinxes at the front of the chariot pull in different directions, her strength of will keeps them moving as one. Through discipline, resolve, and unwavering purpose, she guides them towards her chosen destination.
Few Australians embody the spirit of The Chariot more completely than Fanny Finch.
Born Frances Combe in London in 1815, Fanny was believed to be of African descent. Just eight weeks after her birth, her mother died, leaving her orphaned following a relationship with a footman that ended in pregnancy but not marriage. She was raised in the St Pancras Fledgling Home, where she received an education and protection at a time when opportunities for a child in her circumstances were painfully limited.
History often remembers Fanny as the first woman in Australia to cast a vote in an election, defying both convention and authority in 1856. Yet that remarkable act was only one chapter in an extraordinary life. Long before she signed her name on a ballot paper, Fanny had already demonstrated remarkable courage, resilience, and an unshakeable determination to shape her own future
The Chariot tarot card is all about overcoming challenges and gaining victory through maintaining control of your surroundings. This perfect control and confidence allows the charioteer to emerge victorious in any situation. The use of strength and willpower are critical in ensuring that you overcome the obstacles that lie in your path.
In 1836, at the age of twenty-one, she was granted free passage to the young colony of South Australia as a servant to the respected surgeon William Wyatt. There she married a sailor and became the mother of four children. When the marriage turned abusive, Fanny left with her children and forged a new life on her own terms. She walked from South Australia to Melbourne and, from there, pushed a wheelbarrow to the Forest Creek goldfields, where she began again.
At Forest Creek, Mrs Finch’s Boarding House became a respectable and much-needed place of accommodation for the thousands of men and women drawn to the goldfields. Later, after moving to Castlemaine in 1854, she established a successful restaurant and earned a reputation as a capable and respected businesswoman.
Evidence also suggests that, while raising four children alone, Fanny undertook sex work to support her family. As historian Kacey Sinclair observes, “She was a single mother of four and there was no other way to send her kids to school, feed them, and keep a roof over their heads.” Rather than diminishing her story, this reality speaks to the extraordinary lengths she went to in order to provide for her children.
Fanny’s businesses were frequently targeted by police harassment, including a conviction for selling alcohol without a licence
“I am a woman of but few words and plainly spoken…whatever my position may be, I have worked hard to keep my daughters in a good school and give them an education as I myself have not got…”
from article by Kacey Sinclair
Fanny Finch died in 1863 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
More than 150 years later, historian Kacey Sinclair, together with Fanny’s great-great-great-granddaughter, author and actress Alice Garner, helped restore her rightful place in Australian history. A memorial, funded through a government grant, now honours her with the words:
“Brave and outspoken, unfailingly supportive of those in need.”
Like the Charioteer, Fanny Finch refused to surrender the reins of her life. Faced with hardship, prejudice, violence, and poverty, she continued to move forward with extraordinary determination. Her victory was not won in a single vote, but in the countless courageous decisions she made along the way.
Facts and Fiction
- A Letter to Mother is a fictional Aussie yarn about another woman whose life journey bought her to Castlemaine
Waltzing With Matilda's 