1886 - Eliza’s Death

Eliza died at Mundarrah Towers on 3 December 1886 of “senile decay” (dementia).

Having been advised of her mother’s decline, her daughter Rose had travelled from England to be with her. Rose and her family had departed Australia for the UK in 1883 and by 1884 were permanently settled in London. Rose’s husband John Heaton had been elected as a Conservative to represent Canterbury in the House of Commons. She returned on the SS Austral in company with her brother Alfred and his family. (Alfred and John Heaton had both been appointed as Commissioner for New South Wales to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London that year. Follow this link to read more about the world trip undertaken by  Alfred and his family in 1885)

The Probate valuation of the Mundarrah Towers estate was £9,500 – about 10% of Eliza’s total estate. The probate valuation mentions explicitly for the first time the problems caused by water flowing through the estate:

a large portion of which is rendered unsaleable and inaccessible by an immense water course traversing it in two directions, being sand, the wash away is considerable after storms.