Going North

Maybe it was in Feruary 1860 that Ephraim and Bridget Doe decided it was time to move north. Elijah Hill, it seems was not happy that a horse he was missing at the time was last seen on February 14th in the care of Ephraim Doe at Bridgewater. If the horse was taken by illegal means, it would have been more noticeable than most as it was old and white, not the best transport for a long trip.
Longford area invited the family in and at some stage not long after their arrival, they settled at Bishopsbourne.


Undergrowth at Bullock Holes Rivulet



Twice I have been to look at the land chosen by the couple to construct their own farm. The first time, it was magical. Mossy logs, trickling streams, ferns and tall gum trees made this place look much more beautiful than it had seemed on the land map where it was described in places as scrubby and marshy. I pushed through the cutting grass where burrows of wombats were evident, balanced on fallen logs across Bullock Holes Rivulet and listened to the birds singing in the trees. The ground beneath my feet was soft and springy and the beauty of the bush was everywhere. I tried to imagine where their hut may have stood and how it may have looked when part of the land had been ploughed. No signs were evident of the horse or hens or any settlement of the area.

My next visit, a couple of years later left me feeling torn. Gone was all that I had found attractive. Now reverted to Forestry land, it had just been clear felled. It was just mud. Great gouge marks were evidence that heavy machinery had been used. Water pooled in slushy puddles as an occasional spear of grass tried to peek through the drowned degraded landscape. I could not get away fast enough. No exploring. No magic. No imagining a past.

Gum trees and bracken, but where did their house stand?

There are probably trees sprouting there again now, but planted in rows with no variety in the undergrowth. The cycle will repeat itself, the land may repair, but for me, the essence of my ancestors presence on that piece of land has been vaporised.