Newtown, in Sydney's inner-west, is fertile ground for eccentricity: witness the notorious Frank "Bumper" Farrell, the fondly remembered Theo the Birdman, and sundry bohemians, ratbags and punks. But the godmother of them all is Eliza Emily Donnithorne, spinster-recluse and, according to folklore, the inspiration for Charles Dickens' Miss Havisham.

The legends that have grown up around the life of Eliza Donnithorne obscure the scant facts. She was born in 1826, the youngest daughter of James Donnithorne, an official of the East India Company, and a mover-and-shaker in philanthropic circles. When he died, Eliza inherited most of his estate, including the imposing Camperdown Lodge, near the corner of King and Georgina streets. Several years later she was engaged. An article from 1927 picks up the tale:

Illustration: C. Adaszynski

"The story is told that the lady was engaged to be married, and arrangements had been completed for the celebration of the event. The wedding breakfast was set in the old-

The wedding breakfast "gradually mouldered away until nothing was left but dust and

That she was a recluse, and that the gloomy walls and Norfolk Island pines surrounding Camperdown Lodge spooked generations of local children is not in dispute. But the oft-repeated story of her wedding-day heartbreak, and the Dickens connection, are harder to prove. In fact, according to recent biographies of the author, it's likely that the character of Miss Havisham informed and influenced the stories surrounding Miss Donnithorne, and not the other way round. While it seems the writer of Great Expectations did have Australian connections (including philanthropist Caroline Chisholm) through whom he might have heard Eliza's story, there were a host of lovelorn English spinsters closer to home who might have inspired Dickens.

Eliza Donnithorne died in 1886, and was buried alongside her father in the cemetery of St Stephen's church in Newtown. Members of the NSW Dickens society have visited her grave in recent years; the ghost of Miss Havisham is hard to shake.