Just inside the main entrance to Parramatta Park is an obelisk which marks the spot where Lady Mary Fitzroy, wife of Sir Charles Fitzroy, former Governor of New South Wales, received fatal injuries in a driving accident on December 7, 1847.
The Governor and Lady Fitzroy, accompanied by Lieut. Charles Masters, were setting out to attend a wedding in Sydney, when the four horses attached to their carriage became frightened and dashed wildly down the hill from Government House.
The carriage struck a stump, throwing the occupants violently out. The Governor escaped practically unhurt, but Lady Mary and Lieut. Masters were so seriously injured that they died the same day.
The maddened horses careered along George-street as far as Church-street, where they crashed into a building which stood on the site now occupied by Tattersall’s Hotel. As a result of the tragic happening, a gloom was cast over the whole Colony.
Subsequently Governor Fitzroy had an entrance made to the Domain (the Park) at Macquarie Street, and he used this instead of the George-street one. The obelisk was unveiled on Centenary Day, 1888.
Old Government House, Parramatta
Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate (Parramatta, NSW),
26 October 1933. http://monumentaustralia.org.au/
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