from Windsor & Richmond Gazette
Friends of the well-known Labor veteran, Mr George Waite, were present in great strength on Friday, August 7, at the funeral of his late wife, who died late on the previous Wednesday night.
Mrs. Waite was very well known in charity and church social work for very many years, and a particularly large number of floral wreaths bore eloquent testimony to the regard in which she was held by all acquainted with her. Mrs. Waite was interred in the new Northern Suburbs cemetery.
Among those present at the funeral were the Mayor and Mayoress of Balmain (Ald. and Mrs Harrington), the secretary and treasurer of the United Laborers' Union, Messrs T. Doyle and G. Murray, and many helpers in Sydney social work. — 'Labor Daily.'
Mr. George Waite is well-known and highly respected in the Hawkesbury District. Many years ago he was manager of the Co-operative Settlement formed on Pitt Town Common — now Scheyville Training Farm.
'Marminga' writes:—
There died at North Sydney, on August 5, 1925, aged 59 years, Mrs. George Waite (nee Emily Hill), and thereby a link with the past is snapped. Sleep, and death came hand in hand to escort her gentle spirit to eternal rest, while reading in bed. The death of the wife of Mr. George Waite, the well-known Laborite, removes a link with the historic past and bygone years of the Hawkesbury. The revered departed lady was born at Pitt Town in 1856, the daughter of Henry Hill, who sailed from Plymouth with his wife and son under engagement to the John Macdonald Estate at that town ship. Mrs Waite's elder brother learnt the trade of a blacksmith with the once well-known Scotch-Canadian, Donald Robertson, at Windsor. Mrs. Waite's father was working at Busby's tannery when the warder, Spinks, was found murdered in the yard at Windsor gaol, on May 31st, 1869. A verse on the tombstone at St. Matthew's says, referring to the death of Warder George H. Spiriks: —
'His death was not in battle,
Nor in any lawful strife,
But by a vile assassin
Deprived of his life;'
Mr. Henry Hill often observed that the wrong man (Nicholas Power), a prisoner, was sentenced to death for the murder, as he was condemned for another's crime. Mrs. Waite saw much of inland Australia from Thunderbolt's Ranges in New England, to the far off Spinifex Plains on Forrest's and Giles' tracks in the Golden West, rejoicing with the men who pioneered out back when Fortune smiled upon them, and was ever ready to cheer the out-of -luck victims of an adverse fate. Before going to Coolgardie, she had three years of Communism with her husband and three levys on the Pitt Town Co-operative Settlement. She always said they were three happy years, for she there met the friends of childhood days, as the late Joseph Hobbs, of Pitt Town, was her god-father at her dedication to the service of the Anglican Church, for which she was an active social worker. A memorial service to her life and memory was held in St. Cuthbert's Church, Naremburn on Sunday, 23rd August. She will ever live in the memory and hearts of all who knew her worth and kindly spirit.
'Waite, Emily Jane (1856–1925)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/waite-emily-jane-33450/text41822, accessed 9 November 2024.
1856
Pitt Town, Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
5 August,
1925
(aged ~ 69)
North Sydney, Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.
Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.