Eliza Crowhurst (1844-1919), a devoted mother

Eliza Hale, daughter of Jasper Hale and Mary Nelson, was born in 1844 at Brighton, Victoria. In 1865 she married a miner named George Crowhurst. They had nine children, three born in the Avoca district and six in Parkes, New South Wales.

In 1866 their oldest daughter Harriet was born at Stuart Mill, a gold-rush town forty kilometers north-west of Avoca. In 1868 and 1870 two sons were born to them at Percydale.

On 15 November 1870 Harriet, their oldest daughter, died at Percydale aged four years. She was buried two days later in Avoca cemetery, with her cause of death recorded on the register as pneumonia.

Her grave is marked by a headstone carved by her mother:

To The Memory Of Harriet The Beloved Daughter Of George And Eliza Crowhurst Who Departed This Life The 16 Of Nov 1870 Born 14 Oct 1866 Age 4 Years

On the reverse side Eliza wrote that Harriet’s headstone was

Worked by her Mother’s hand.

Eliza took the headstone to the cemetery, six miles from Percydale, by wheelbarrow.

A 1963 plaque was erected next to Harriet’s grave by the Maryborough Rotary Club. It is inscribed:

Sacred to the memory of Eliza Crowhurst
A devoted mother who carved the headstone on this grave and wheeled it in a barrow from Percydale to the Cemetery to erect it thereon.
“The memory of the just is blessed”
Mothers Day.           Avoca 1963

On moving to Parkes, Eliza and her husband settled at Tomingley near Peak Hill, where George Crowhurst operated a mine.

Eliza died on 23 August 1919 and is buried in Peak Hill General Cemetery.

Western Champion (Parkes, NSW), Thursday 4 September 1919, page 6

PEAK HILL
Mrs. Eliza Crowhurst, relict of the late George Crowhurst, died on Saturday morning, at the ripe age of 75 years. For the past twelve months Mrs. Crowhurst had not enjoyed the best of health, and lately it became evident that the end was approaching, and in spite of every care and attention, she gradually sank and passed peacefully away in the presence of her family. Mrs. Crowhurst was one of the oldest residents of Tomingley, having arrived here with her husband and family some 36 years ago, so that she saw the rise and ultimate decay of the once rich mining village.

More then ten years after Eliza’s death, a Melbourne Methodist minister, the Reverend C. Irving Benson, wrote a short piece about Eliza and her daughter Harriet in the Melbourne “Herald” on 13 May 1933 for Mothers’ Day:

A Lonely Grave.

There is a pathetic little slab in the Avoca cemetery. The crudely carved inscription reads: "Sacred to the memory of Harriet, the beloved daughter of George and Eliza Crowhurst, who departed this life the 15th of Nov., 1870. Born 14 of Oct., 1866. Age, 4 years." On the back of the stone are the words: "Worked by her mother's hands."

Try to think what lies behind it. A pair of pioneers make their home in a tent or a hut, and a little lassie is born to them. I think of that little child, the delight of their eyes, playing in the golden sunshine, running to meet her Daddy as he came home from the long day's toil.

Then comes the fell day when the child is sick and fevered. There is no doctor within reach. They try such homely remedies as they know or their neighbours advise. But there they watch in dumb agony and utter helplessness the little life ebb away.

In a home-made coffin they carry the mite to that lonely grave. Then the father hews a rough slab of stone out of the hills, and day after day the mother works with stone and water to smooth it, and her untrained hands, using such tools as are available, grave these simple lines.

Such were the pioneer mothers, Let us honour them with thanksgiving and thanks-living. 

Wikitree: Eliza (Hale) Crowhurst (1844-1919)