Life in the North West

Last time I wrote about Ephraim and Bridget, Ephraim had just been taken off to Port Arthur. Bridget was exonerated, but was she returned to her children or left in Launceston and had to make her way back to them. Ephraim had relinquished his property at Bishopsbourne, so where did they go?
My guess is that they moved further along the coast. Ephraim had been given a 15 year sentence so they would have had to effectively plan a life without him. The most likely jobs for women would have been in housework, laundry or sewing. Unfortunately, houseowners, lessees and men were most likely to leave behind a record of their being, and Bridget was none of these.
Ephraim was released after 7 1/2 years and I have been unable to find any trace of the family for the whole of this time. The place he reappeared after that time was at Sheffield, in the North West, where he purchased a block of land only three months after leaving PA. Had he kept money from the disposal of his Bishopsbourne property? The money earned at Port Arthur was hardly enough. Had he met up with Bridget again? Bridget lived for only eight more years, while Ephraim lived for another nineteen but they left little evidence of their lives.
Three months after the property at Sheffield was purchased, it was transferred into the name of Ephraim the Younger. What was the purpose of this? Did they build a hut or house there/ Did they even live on the property?
The North West Coast was still quite isolated as far as roads were concerned. Transport into the area was mainly by ship and there were wooden ketches travelling all along the area, pulling into wharves built on the numerous rivers. Land was still being cleared for farming and dead forests stood tall, waiting for the timber to die and be felled. Houses were wooden huts, roads mainly just muddy tracks and much of the population ex convicts or their descendants. There were not quite so many sheep in this area, to tempt Ephraim back into his old ways, or perhaps he had learned his lesson. Dairying was more prevalent in this part of the country.
For the next really big influence on the lives of the Doe family it is necessary to look to religion. After all the years of unheeded services while a convict, Ephraim now lived with his son who was swept by the movement of the Christian Brethren.