  Protoplanetary discs are the birthplace for planets. Studying protoplanetary
discs is the key to constraining theories of planet formation. By observing
dust and gas in associations at different ages we can study the evolution of
these discs, their clearing timescales, and their physical and geometrical
properties. The stellar association Eta Cha is peculiar; some members still
retain detectable amounts of gas in their discs at the late age of 7 Myr,
making it one of the most interesting young stellar associations in the solar
neighbourhood. We characterise the properties of dust and gas in protoplanetary
and transitional discs in the Eta Cha young cluster, with special emphasis on
explaining the peculiarities that lead to the observed high disc detection
fraction and prominent IR excesses at an age of 7 Myr. We observed 17 members
of the Eta Cha association with Herschel-PACS in photometric mode and line
spectroscopic mode. A subset of members were also observed in range
spectroscopic mode. The observations trace [OI] and $H2O emissions at 63.18 and
63.32 microns, respectively, as well as CO, OH, CH+ and [CII] at different
wavelengths for those systems observed in range mode. The photometric
observations were used to build complete spectral energy distributions (SEDs)
from the optical to the far-IR. High-resolution multi-epoch optical spectra
with high signal-to-noise ratios were also analysed to study the multiplicity
of the sources and look for further gas (accreting) and outflow indicators.
