Obituaries Australia

Edith Hill, c1905

State Library of Queensland, 157309

The news of the death of Mrs. Lumley Hill, which occurred at Southport on Monday, will be a source of deep regret to very many friends in the country districts of the State, as well as to the friends of the family in Brisbane. The deceased lady was a member of one of Queensland's old families, and as Miss Edith Harris, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Harris, spent the earlier years of her life in a home which was famed far and wide as the centre of hospitality in Brisbane's early days. Mrs. George Harris before her marriage was Miss Thorn, and after her marriage she and her husband, who was a member of the Legislative Council of Queensland, made Newstead House, which was their home, a place in which all the most interesting and cultured people of both sexes were frequent and welcome visitors. The deceased lady was first married to Mr. Condamine Taylor, who was a son of Mr. James Taylor, of Toowoomba, owner of Cecil Plains and other station properties, and after their marriage they made their home at Bellevue Station. Mr. and Mrs. Condamine Taylor had three daughters, Mrs. A. H. Whittingham, Mrs. E. J. Watt, of Sydney, and Mrs. F. L. Cavaye. After the death of her first husband, his widow married Mr. Lumley Hill, who predeceased her many years ago. Throughout her life Mrs. Lumley Hill was noted for her generous hospitality and her excellent management of her station home. Special tribute to her housewifely skill and her cordial hospitality was paid by his Excellency the Governor (Sir Matthew Nathan) on the occasion of the marriage of her daughter Miss Joan Taylor, to Lieut.-Commander Cavaye, when a large gathering of guests at Mayfield endorsed the Governor's encomiums. Mrs. Lumley Hill's sister, Mrs. Casey, who resides in Melbourne, and is at present in England, visited Brisbane last year, when, as has been the case for many months, the deceased lady's health was causing anxiety to her relatives and intimate friends. For many months her health had been far from robust, and during the past two years she had lived quietly at Huntington, her Southport residence, where her death occurred at 3.30 on Tuesday, as the result of a sudden seizure, Doctors Berry and Mackay were immediately summoned, but Mrs. Lumley Hill died shortly after their arrival. Mrs. Cavaye was with her mother at Southport, and immediately on receipt of the news Mrs. A. H. Whittingham travelled down to her mother's late home.