Biography

Florence died very suddenly of a heart condition.  Miss Bingham was found dead in her camp near the Golden Rhine. Dr. Duncan was called in and attributed her death to syncope.  The deceased had been on the fields some time, both in Menzies and at Coolgardie. She was highly esteemed. Recently she had been suffering greatly from neuralgia and rheumatism.

Miss Bingham had been ailing for some time past, distressing attacks of neuralgia causing her great pain and suffering.  On Sunday, she was so distressed that she went to the hospital and remained there all day with Matron Sly.  There was a slight improvement the next morning and her lady friends were hoping that the attack had abated.   Late in the afternoon, she complained to Mr Durbridge of feeling very fatigued and he, noticing her low condition, induced her to go to see Mrs Webb, who administered a stimulant.  This revived her somewhat and she went home. 

Miss Penny, who has been most kind and attentive to the deceased all through her illness, thought that after she had finished and posted her letters for the eastern colonies, she would call in and see her friend before going home for the night.  Miss Penny was a little surprised, on reaching her friend's camp, to find the door open and the place in darkness.  So she called out, but got no response.  Looking in through the open door, Miss Penny then saw the deceased lying on the floor.  Thinking that she must have fainted, Miss Penny ran in and lighted a candle.  The moment the light came, she realised what had happened because she saw that Miss Bingham was lying on the floor with her hat on, evidently as she had fallen as she reached home after walking back from town.

Miss Penny swiftly passed her hands over the limbs of her dead friend and, finding them cold and stiffening, hurried down to Dr Le Messurier, who she knew was at work in his office, and detailed to him what had happened.  Doctor Le Messurier then communicated with Dr Duncan and Sergeant Mitchell.

Dr Duncan, after making a cursory examination of the body, said that he thought death must have been due to syncope or heart failure.  Dr Cave was the deceased's medical attendant, who was due back in Menzies that day and would provide a Death Certificate.

The deceased arrived on the goldfield about 18 months before and, after spending three months in Coolgardie, she arrived in Menzies and carried on her duties with the typewriter ever since.  She was wonderfully cheerful and courageous and very well informed on the current topics of the day.  It was understood that she had married sisters in Sydney, Goulburn and England and is supposed to have been a distant relative to C.Y. O'Connor, the Engineer-In-Chief at the time.

After the administration of probates and letters, the sum of £200 was left to William Lambden Owen from the estate of Miss Florence Bingham.