Life was not meant to be easy



Ephraim Doe the Elder

 He looks rather content in this photo, probably taken in the late 70s or 80s. Life wasn't always so easy. Meat was not always on the menu though Ephraim knew how to get it. Evidence shows that he was cutting palings, a common source of income at the time and ploughing his land for crops. Did he ever try to run sheep on his land or was it easier to partake of someone else's flock? Having visited the area where he lived, I can see that it was not really sheep friendly, probably a bit wet underfoot and not the sort of land where grass grew freely all year land. Located in the shadow of Black Bluff, which is frequently capped with snow in winter, it would have been a chilly climate. James Green had a large property bordering Ephraim's. This was much hillier and had far better drainage. In fact, James Green was reported in the newspapers as being the first person to bring mechanical irrigation into Tasmania. Green had large flocks and Ephraim would have seen them as a viable target.
Whatever, Ephraim was only just managing to support his family on his farm. They had a little wheat but it needed to be ground into flour. Vegetables would have been seasonal, eggs available from chooks (if the native animals allowed them peace). I have found no evidence that there was a house cow. Shops were many miles away so the family had to be self sufficient. There was no school in the district and they did not attend chuch so socialising was amongst the other neighbours, many of them of dubious background. Altogether, the family lived an isolated life. Bridget would have been busy bringing up the two children but their only education was from chores or what they learned from the bush. Neither parent was able to pass on formal education. Did Bridget pass on sewing skills to MaryAnn? These were necessary in days when most people made their own clothes or purchased second hand articles. Mending and recycling were survival skills. Ephraim the younger would have learned to handle tools from an early age. Some of these also procured from another settler who took Ephraim snr to court to try to retrieve them. Ephraim was no stranger to the insides of the court room and he was to become even more familiar with the sight of the judge and jury.