the ds mitchell story - State Library of New South Wales - NSW ...

we would ever see this. I have been looking for it for years.’ 39 Wymark
continued: ‘With this remark he gave a gasp and fell back on his pillow.
I thought he was dead and was going to tell Sarah (the housekeeper),
when a voice came from the pillow “So where were we Fred?”’
Mitchell’s character and determination emerge even more strongly
in another remark he made to Wymark: ‘If you hear anyone say I was
converted, say I died mad.’
Silver trowel with ivory handle, made by
Fairfax & roberts, Sydney. Used by the hon
Jh carruthers, Premier of New South Wales,
to lay the foundation stone of the Mitchell
Library, 11 September 1906, ML r 915
Dr robert Scot Skirving, Mitchell’s medical practitioner, recalled the
circumstances in less romantic terms in his memoirs, where he wrote
of his dismay at the general dereliction — and the dusty, untidy state
of the unruly collections crammed into every corner — of the house
at 17 Darlinghurst road at the end of Mitchell’s life. 40
David Scott Mitchell died of pernicious anaemia and general debility
at the age of 71, on 24 July 1907. he was buried under lemon-scented
eucalypts in the church of england section of the rookwood cemetery.
Only a small group attended the graveside: a few relations, several of
the Trustees of the Public Library, hcL Anderson (who was then no
longer Principal Librarian), his successor, FM Bladen, some members of
the Government and George robertson. On 25 July Premier carruthers
A GrAND OBSeSSION: The DS MITcheLL STOry 13