Newtown, New South Wales by the crime writer Peter Corris. One of the first pieces of fiction to be published in colonial Sydney was "The Legend of Newtown" by future member of parliament D.H. Deneihy, published in the Sydney "Sentinel" on 5 November 1845 when the author was 17. It described Newtown as "a favourite place ... to snatch a mouthful of fresh air, a view of the ruralities of the place". The famous Newtown recluse and eccentric Eliza Emily Donnithorne (1826-1886) is said by some sources to have inspired the character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens' novel "Great Expectations". Donnithorne lived in
Havisham poem. "Havisham" Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then I haven't wished him dead, Prayed for it so hard I've dark green pebbles for eyes, ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with. Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe; the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words. Some nights better, the lost body over me, my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear then down till I suddenly