“God was their Rock” by Alan Dyer tells the story of the visit by evangelists into Tasmania. Brown and Moyse had come to the Circular Head district in 1872 and in August 1874, they arrived in Sheffield. It was very much a pioneer town. Bullocks with loaded drays would get bogged in the main street. People had to swim to cross rivers. Falling limbs from the many ring barked trees posed a constant threat to safety. The first post office had been built here in 1862 and a general store opened soon after. A school had been established. Some residents attended the Wesleyan Church but most people lived without the support of any Christian guidance. When Brown (from England) and Moyse (Scotland) began preaching in houses, people listened. Meetings had to be moved to barns and held more often, so great was the interest in the message these preachers were delivering. Whether the message rang true for him, or he was swept up in the general euphoria, on the 7th July, Ephraim the Younger joined their ranks along with about 90 other people. He had mentioned at his father’s trial several years earlier that he had never been to Church, Chapel or school and did not know what a bible was. The young Ephraim took that book and his formal education began. He learned the stories and at the age of 20, now began to learn to read. The Bible was to be his first “primer.”
Other families also joined the Christian Brethren movement. Among them were members of the Knowles family, including the Walker family. At the age of 23, Ephraim the Younger married Caroline Byron, daughter of Caroline Walker. He was now a farmer, and his address “Paradise.”
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