Robert Wainwright - Enid: The scandalous life of a glamorous Australian who dazzled the world

There was no Christmas cheer at Broadlands in 1972.

Enid had been ill most of the year, her back pain exacerbated by a hiatus hernia that she was reluctant to dull with painkillers because of fears about her previous morphine addiction. Travel had been minimal; instead, she had been confined to bed, sometimes for a week or more, and at times struggling to get to the races, where her namesake, Miss Lindeman, was in the midst of a winning streak of ten races.

It was not surprising, even in the heat of an African summer, that Enid developed pneumonia. She was confined to bed in early December and a nurse was hired. But Enid resisted; ever true to her maxim about never admitting illness, she was found up a ladder one morning looking for her meerkat, frantic that it was not on her bed.

Pat refused to believe that her energetic mother would not recover but, as the New Year arrived, she began spending nights in Enids bed to watch over her. It seemed just a matter of time.

On 5 January 1973, Pat was woken by the dawn light through window slats. Outside, one of the workmen was watering the lawn before the heat of the day set in. Her mother stirred a few minutes later.

Ignoring Pat, Enid rolled slowly over to the edge of the bed and sat up. Looking to her right, she whispered, Oh mother and stretched out her arms as if reaching for someone, before she lay back down on the bed. She died a few moments later, three days short of her eighty-first birthday.

Pat could not remember the funeral, only that Rory came out from France and took her ashes back to La Fiorentina, where he built a tombstone at the point of Cap Ferrat. When he moved to the town of Mnerbes at the foot of the French Alps a few years later, Rory took her ashes again and created another tombstone in his garden.

And when Rory died in 1985 from an AIDS-related illness, aged seventy-one, Caryll took both their ashes back to England, where they were buried in the churchyard next to the family home in the town of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire. There is a stained-glass window in the church, depicting Enid surrounded by her animals.

Caryll was buried alongside them when he died in 2013 at the age of eighty-seven.

After her mother died, Pat fell into financial difficulties but friends ensured that she could stay at Broadlands, where she continued to care for her ever-increasing menagerie. Frank would spend three months of the year in Africa until he became too old to travel. He still lives in Manly.

Pat died in 2019, a few weeks before her ninety-fourth birthday, in the same room as her mother. She was broke, the great fortunes of Roderick Cameron and Marmaduke Furness whittled away on fabulous lives of excess and fed by Enid Lindemans creedNever be afraid, never be jealous and never complain when you are ill.

The Lindeman brothers took over the reins of their father Henrys business empire, principally run by Charles, Enids father, who is in the centre. Enid Lindeman private albums

A girl among men: young Enids attitude to life is evinced in this circa 1896 photograph of her standing in the midst of the male-dominated Lindeman family. Enid Lindeman private albums

An early portrait of Enid (centre) with her mother, Florence, and younger sister Nita. Enid Lindeman private albums

Roderick Cameron was a wealthy 45-year-old New York bachelor when he arrived in Sydney in 1912 and met 20-year-old Enid Lindeman. Enid Lindeman private albums

Enid on the day of her wedding to Roderick Cameron in 1913. Enid Lindeman private albums

The young widow with baby Rory in New York in 1914. She would return to Sydney soon afterwards. Enid Lindeman private albums

Enid cuts an amazing figure emerging from the water at Manly in 1915 wearing a swimming costume once owned by swimming legend Annette Kellerman. Enid Lindeman private albums

TOP LEFT: Enid always stood out in a crowd, this time as a World War I nurse in Paris where she also drove a private ambulance. Enid Lindeman private albums

TOP RIGHT: Paris 1917: Enid was popular with British Army officers stationed in the French capital. Eventually, she would be married off to an officer to quell the fuss.Enid Lindeman private albums

LEFT: Enid and her second husband, Frederick Caviar Cavendish. It was an arranged marriage that lasted fourteen years until he died of a brain haemorrhage. Enid Lindeman private albums

Three years after World War I ended, Frederick (mounted, second left) was stationed in Egypt. In 1922, thanks to her friendship with Lord Carnarvon, Enid (centre) and son Rory were two of the first people to enter Tutankhamuns tomb. Cavendish family collection

Enid and her younger sister Marjorie. The Lindeman girls were much-photographed beauties, this taken in 1925 when Enid was pregnant with daughter Pat. Photo by Bernice Agar

Enid was a devoted mother, pictured here with Caryll and Pat, her children with Frederick Cavendish. Cavendish family collection

Marmaduke Furness, Enids third husband, called himself Duke and expected to be treated like one, a tyrant who demanded freshly ironed shoelaces each day. Authors collection