Marie (Ma) Dalley

Marie Dalley known as Ma Dalley born as Minnie May Fimmel (1880 – 1965) was an Australian businesswoman, philanthropist and mayor.

Life Dalley was born in 1880 in Victoria state in Minyip. She was named Minnie May Fimmel by her parents Matilda (born Baum) and Carl Heinrich Fimmel. They had both been born in Germany.

The business she was most associated with, was scrap metal dealing. In 1925 she established the company at Bedford Street in North Melbourne. She covered her three acres of land with a chaotic mixture of old equipment and second hand hardware which she bought and sold. M. Dalley & Company became one of the leading scrap dealers in Australia. and John Derham bought a lot of used machinery which enabled him to start Victoria's first plastic company, Australian Moulding Corporation, in 1927. Visy was also launched with a corrugating machine made from equipment sourced from Dalley's yard in the 1940s.

During the 1940s food was rationed in Britain. Dalley became involved in several initiatives. She was buying unripe fruit and vegetables which was then stored after its temperature was lowered. This allowed the fruit to be ripened to order for canning. By 1946 she was exporting the frozen meat of 20,000 lambs to the United Kingdom, she bought a farm and she was also involved in the manufacture of margarine. Money was set aside to celebrate her election but Dalley instructed that the money should be given to Kew's St George's Hospital. Dalley later made a personal donation to the hospital of £250,000.

Dalley died in Kew in 1965. Her archives are held by the State of Victoria.