Mid North Coast Pioneers - Newcastle to Lismore and beyond

Sophia Moore is quoted:

"My grandfather from Ireland owned all of the Killawarrah Estate. [It would seem that her Grandfather died in Scotland before her Grandmother came to Australia.] He left each of his sons a farm. The Moores and the Murrays were the original settlers in that area.

My grandmother was a Scottish lady. She was married on the ship corning out from Scotland. I can remember her cooking with a camp oven. They grew their own food. My grandfather had a farm. They used to draw water from the river in a big cask with horses. That did for a few days. There wasn't any tin roofs.

I had four brothers and three sisters. I was reared on a place at Burrell Creek. The Presbyterian Minister used to call at our place. We went to church and Sunday school. I went to Killawarrah School when I was small, then later to Bobo School. We used to walk two miles to school. Only one teacher. They used to do a lot of yelling and shouting and using the cane, but I don' tthink they were so very strict. I don't remember getting into any trouble.

We enjoyed school. We did reading and writing and arithmetic and history. We had copy books and exercise books to do special work, then we had slates and pencils. We played skippy, rounders, cricket, hopscotch and football. My grandmother used to give us a book for Christmas.

I finished school at 13. Dad was away a lot, so mum had to have someone to help. I had to look after my brothers and sisters, as my mother was delicate in later years. I was the eldest. I could make scones and cook when I was very young. We had neighbours on each farm and we could walk to visit them. I never stayed away from home, except to help my uncle once. He gave me a sovereign.

My mother was a happy woman. She made all our clothes. When we lived at Bow Hill, out of Wingham, there was an old Assyrian who used to come round selling material. He had a packhorse, and later a van. He used to ask my mother if he could camp nearby.

Mum used to hire someone to come in and do the washing or do a day's work when we were small. You could hire people to help on farms for a very small wage when I was young. They used to do the heavy farm work.

My father was a carpenter. He built about 90 houses in the Manning district. He used to come home at weekends. He'd always bring us children lollies, material for clothes. He never drank or smoked. He always went to church and was a good living man. My parents had a church on their farm. My father's parents were very religious people. They were Free Presbyterians and later Presbyterians.

For entertainment we went to dance in peoples' homes, visiting neighbours or on picnics. We went on excursions down the river to the beach and to Farquhar Park. My husband's family lived on the other side of the river. He had a boat and we used to go out boating of a Sunday with people from both sides of the river. If there was any entertainment on, we used to try to go to it. I was 20 when I was married. We went to Sydney for our honeymoon. That was the first time I went to Sydney.

My husband had a cattle run. He bought a farm in the Krambach district about a year after we were married, then a place at Killawarrah, then Barrington. He had several farms, he was a bit of a wanderer. He went out to Ganget, the brush country. He had a property at Yarrowitch. He was running cattle and dairying on some of the farms. He made a bit of money when he sold the places.

One time, rabbits took possession of the country. It was just a moving mass of rabbits. Then the drought came. There was no grass for the cattle. They all died. Later, dad had one of the first Ford cars. He sold it to buy more cattle.

I was brought up to be a housewife and was happy doing it. I had six sons and two daughters. Having a routine, that's what made my life easier than some people think it would be. I wanted to do things at the right time. I've had a good life."

Comment By Daughter

"Mum always stayed at home. Never mixed in the society or the neighbourhood or went out visiting after she was married. She lived for her home and her family."

They had six sons and two daughters.