This is the first of a series of posts to chronicle the daily experiences of the 'Lost in the Bush' children.
The Duff family lived in a shepherd's hut on Spring Hill station, west of Mount Arapiles. On Friday 12th August 1864, around 9-10am, their mother Hannah sent the children - Isaac (aged 9), Jane (7) and Frank(3½) - to cut and collect broom bush, about a mile from their home.
The Duff family lived in a shepherd's hut on Spring Hill station, west of Mount Arapiles. On Friday 12th August 1864, around 9-10am, their mother Hannah sent the children - Isaac (aged 9), Jane (7) and Frank(3½) - to cut and collect broom bush, about a mile from their home.
On this occasion the children ventured further to another patch of broom and wildflowers which lay beyond a brush fence.
After gathering the broom the children mistakenly turned north, the opposite direction to home, until they reached a fence (probably the boundary fence between Spring Hill and Heath Hill stations) where they turned north-easterly.
The country was sandy with the bush composed of mallee scrub and vast swathes of heath, in some places dense and almost impenetrable. When they did not return, their father searched on horseback, till near midnight, when the moon went down.
In 1864 Spring Hill Station, where Duff was employed as a shepherd, was owned by Duncan Cameron, but future leaseholder Dugald Smith was in occupation of the homestead. The Duff hut was near the Spring Hill woolshed.
The country was sandy with the bush composed of mallee scrub and vast swathes of heath, in some places dense and almost impenetrable. When they did not return, their father searched on horseback, till near midnight, when the moon went down.
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Background: Isaac was born at Wonwondah in 1855, and Jane at Horsham in 1857 to Joseph and Hannah Cooper. After Joseph died, Hannah married John (Stephen) Duff, and they moved to Spring Hill station where Frank was born in 1860.In 1864 Spring Hill Station, where Duff was employed as a shepherd, was owned by Duncan Cameron, but future leaseholder Dugald Smith was in occupation of the homestead. The Duff hut was near the Spring Hill woolshed.
Posted on site at Duffholme
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