Memorial gates erected by parishioners and friends commemorate philanthropist Dame Eadith Walker.
Dame Eadith Campbell Walker (1861-1937), philanthropist, was born on 18 September 1861 at The Rocks, Sydney, only child of Scottish parents Thomas Walker, merchant, and his wife Jane.
After inheriting her father’s estate, she was to perpetuate her father’s philanthropies and generously supported the Thomas Walker Convalescent Hospital that he had founded. She was an executive member of, and a subscriber to, many charitable organisations, among them the Women’s Industrial Guild, Queen’s Jubilee Fund, Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children and the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddington. Eadith also supported religious and educational institutions, including local churches and the University of Sydney.
Memorial gates, fencing, and floodlights, in honour of Dame Eadith Walker of Yaralla, will be dedicated by Archbishop Mowll at Holy Trinity Church, Concord West, at 2 45 pm today. The date is two days after the 80th anniversary of Dame Eadith’s birth. (The Sydney Morning Herald: 20 September 1941.)
Archbishop Mowll, at the dedication of the Dame Eadith Walker memorial at Holy Trinity Church, Concord West, on Saturday, referred to Dame Eadith’s many charitable acts and her great personal interest in the returned soldiers of the last war. It was appropriate that she should be remembered, he said, at a time when wounded and sick soldiers were returning from another great war. Archbishop Mowll dedicated the memorial, Lady Sulman unveiled the memorial tablet, and Mrs. A. B. “Banjo” Paterson officially opened the gates. The first rector of the parish, the Rev. W.A. Watkinson, took part in the service. (The Sydney Morning Herald: 22 September 1941.)
(Ed: Miss Eadith Walker also, at her own expense, had previously built Holy Trinity Church, the School Hall and the Parsonage.)
