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
Elizabeth Dickens WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 12TH 1863 AGED 73 YEARS". Charles Dickens used his mother as the source for the vain, ineffectual and verbally comic Mrs. Nickleby in his novel "Nicholas Nickleby" and for Mrs Micawber in "David Copperfield". Elizabeth Dickens Elizabeth Culliford Dickens (née Barrow; 21 December 1789 – 13 September 1863) was the wife of John Dickens and the mother of English novelist Charles Dickens. She was the source for Mrs. Nickleby in her son's novel "Nicholas Nickleby" and for Mrs Micawber in "David Copperfield". One of eight children of Mary Culliford (1771–1851) and Charles Barrow (1759–1826), Elizabeth Barrow was