- Why Mundarrah Towers?
Greville had apparently not bothered with a name for the estate; the land was farmed and no house was built on it.
The next two owners, Dr John Dickson and John Campbell, both chose names that reflected the dominant topographic feature of the site, the stream or rivulet running through it west to east to the head of the bay. Dickson’s choice of Rockbrook may well have been inspired by the name of the neighbouring estate at Gordon’s Bay, Cliffbrook. Campbell’s Aberburnie appears to be a Scots version of almost the same name.
During his brief tenure, George Renwick retained the name Aberburnie, it being given as his address as late as November 1874 when he initiated court action for trespass against the Randwick Council.
The name Mundarrah, first attached to the property from the mid 1870’s after the Bennetts had acquired it. Obviously of Aboriginal derivation, where it came from is something of a mystery. However, an article in the Australian Town and Country Journal (AT&CJ) in September 1878, recorded the story that “a lady”, was attempting to find an Aboriginal name for her home, and bribed an Aboriginal person with tea and sugar to tell her “What name blackfellow give this place?”. She interpreted the reply as either “Munyarra” or “Mundarrah”, and accordingly adopted Mundarrah. The writer of the article was in “no doubt that the Aboriginal said “munyarra”, that is “I do not know”! (We have not been able to confirm the word or its meaning as belonging to the Sydney language, but by this time the Aboriginal person consulted, while apparently living locally, could have been from almost anywhere in NSW.)
It is significant that the article appeared in the AT&CJ. The writer would have been well aware that he might be treading on the toes of one of the proprietors of the publication, Eliza Bennett, Samuel’s widow, having inherited a 1/5th share on his death earlier that year. This adds some credence to the tale and even suggests that the source, if it was Eliza, or even perhaps Samuel who, though he had died in June that year, was mentioned as a source earlier in the article, was quite prepared to make a joke of their mistake. (The writer would also not have been aware of how inappropriate his references to Australian First Nations People would be in the 21st Century.)
