PEACEFUL PASSING

Evening Star, Issue 23375, 19 September 1939, Page 10

PEACEFUL PASSING

MRS EMMA HARRIES DEATH GALLS AT THE AGE OF 105 SHE MADE FLAGS FOR QUEEN VICTORIA Quietly, as she had lived, there passed away last,night Dunedin’s “Little Old Lady,” Mrs Emma Harries, of Cargill road, South Dunedin. It is just two months since she celebrated her one hundredth and fifth birthday,, and it seems as if she just lived for that anni* versary, for, the great milestone passed, the, flame of life in her enfeebled body began to flicker, sinking steadily lower until last night it became extinguished. Mrs Harnes, for the past 12 or 13 years, had been living with her niece. Mrs M. A. M'Fadyien, of 337 Cargill road, and at that residence Mrs Harries celebrated her last five birthdays. She had formed a wide circle of friends, all of whom loved her, and her passing has came -as a sad blow to,them. Until the last Mrs Harries was quiet, bright, and uncomplaining. The oldest white woman in the Dominion, Mrs Harries enjoyed remarkably good health all-her life, and .to the end her faculties w’efe practically, unimpaired. She enjoyed her last birthday as greatly as any'previously, and her interest in things about her never slackened. She had a lively sense of humour, which naturally' increased tho affection-her friends bad for her. i ■■■■ .i ■

Mrs Harries 'was born in the parish of Bermondsey, England, on July 18, 1834, and while still ■ a girl went to Australia, living: there for more than 20 years. She was married in that countryj and. caipe jto \ Port > Chalmers with her husband, in >IBBB. Mr-Harries died, only eight years after arriyal here. Mrs Harries lived with a brother for several year*, eventually coming to reside with her niece, Mrs M'Fadyien. In 1937 Mrs Harries had a great thrill. On November 11 of that year she broadcast from station 4YA, relating the opening of the. Crystal Palace, London, in 1854. > The relay- was made from her room in the house at Cargill road, and was eminently successful, being in the form of an interview between her and Big Brother Bill. Mrs Harries, it is interesting to note, played, quite an important part in preliminary arrangements for the opening, of Crystal Palace. Her father, a bunting manufacturer, had received an order to make flags to be used on that occasion, and Mrs Harries herself made the silk flags which decorated the entrance through which Queen Victoria, who performed the opening, passed. _ It was two years later that Mrs Harries sailed for Australia and commenced her colonial existence.