Dame Eadith Campbell Walker (18 September 1861 - 8 October 1937) was an Australian heiress and philanthropist.

Life and career

Eadith Campbell Walker was born at The Rocks, Sydney, the only child of Scottish parents, Thomas Walker, a merchant, and his wife Jane (née Hart). The family moved to their home, Yaralla, an Italianate mansion on the Parramatta River in

Concord West Concord West (also known as West Concord) is a suburb on the periphery of Sydney's inner-west, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Concord West is located 16 km west of the Sydney central business district, in the local governmen ...

, an inner-western suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Following the death of her mother, she was raised by her paternal aunt, Joanna Walker. She and her father carried out numerous charitable works in Australia. When the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

came she took a special interest in returned soldiers suffering from tuberculosis, and had 32 of them at "The Camp" in the grounds of

Yaralla Estate The Yaralla Estate, also known as the Dame Eadith Walker Estate and now home to the Dame Eadith Walker Hospital, is a heritage-listed hospital at The Drive, Concord West, City of Canada Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ''Yaralla'' was ...

from 1917 to 1920. From April 1917 to December 1922 she lent another home at Leura for the same purpose, and paid the entire cost of maintenance. It was afterwards made a children's home. She built cottages for elderly men at Yaralla, and provided an endowment fund for their upkeep, and also supported sporting clubs and religious, educational and health institutions, and after the First World War, returned soldiers.

Honours

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1917) and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (4 June 1928) for philanthropic and charitable services.

Legacy

Dame Eadith died on 8 October 1937, aged 76, unmarried. She was cremated at the chapel in Rookwood, and her ashes were buried in the family grave at

St John's Ashfield St John the Baptist Anglican Church is an active Anglican church located between Alt and Bland Streets, Ashfield, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1840, on land donated by Elizabeth Underwood, the church building is ...

. She left an estate of £265,000. After providing for many legacies to relations, friends and employees, one-third of the residue of the estate went to the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Imperial League of Australia, and the real estate to the Red Cross Society. After her death, two-thirds of the income from £300,000 of her father's estate was set aside for the upkeep of the Thomas Walker Hospital, which had been built from 1891-93 with money provided by her father's will. Another £100,000 was used to turn Yaralla into the Dame Eadith Walker convalescent home for men, and one-third of the income from another sum of £300,000 was set aside for its maintenance. Both Yaralla and the Thomas Walker Hospital (now known as Rivendell Child, Adolescent and Family Unit) are now listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

.''The Heritage of Australia'', Macmillan Company, 1981, pg. 2/23

References

Sources

*J. MacCulloch
'Walker, Dame Eadith Campbell (1861 - 1937)'

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 12, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp 356–57.

External links

*
Walker, Eadith
at '' The Dictionary of Sydney'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Eadith 1861 births 1937 deaths Australian women philanthropists Australian philanthropists Australian Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from New South Wales Australian people of Scottish descent 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women