Another woman has taken over from Gina Rinehart as Australia's richest person.

Poor Gina.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has lost her brag-worthy title of Australia’s richest person to another woman – a reclusive American-born heiress who lives in rural New South Wales.

Blair Parry-Okeden has taken the top spot on Forbes’ rich list, thanks to her estimated $US8.8 billion (that’s $12.49 billion in Aussie dollars) fortune.

The 65-year-old, who wrote a children’s book about an ad that Mother Goose placed in a newspaper called Down by the Gate, did not go on to higher education after achieving her high school diploma in Hawaii, where she was born.

According to Forbes, the mother of two moved to her ex-husband’s native Australia decades ago and now lives in near-seclusion in the NSW farming village of Scone.

Her fortune was made in 2007, when she inherited a quarter of US media conglomerate Cox Enterprises – a company started by her grandfather, a former governor of Ohio and failed US Presidential candidate.

While Parry-Okeden has no role in the company, her brother – who is a billionaire in his own right – manages it.

Meanwhile, Rinehart has slipped to number two on the list (with a still impressive net worth of $US8.8 billion, which is $A12.07 billion) after losing $3.2 billion in the past year due to falling iron ore prices and a legal loss in which almost a quarter of Hancock Prospecting was awarded to her four children, two of whom are estranged.

Here are the top 10 richest Australians:

1. Blair Parry-Okeden, $US8.8 billion

2. Gina Rinehart, $US8.5 billion

3. Harry Triguboff, $US6.9 billion

4. Frank Lowy, $US5 billion

5. Anthony Pratt, $US3.6 billion

6. James Packer, $US3.5 billion

7. John Gandel, $US3.2 billion

8. Lindsay Fox, $US2.8 billion

9. David Teoh, $US1.95 billion

10. David Hains, $US1.9 billion