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[Page 28] 28
-Life at Port Stephens-
Speaking of life at Port Stephens as it affected
our own family, and as I remember it from the
early fifties, and up to the year 1873, when I left for
Queensland - We found it very endurable, in spite of
the isolation - No rent or taxes to pay. we had our
own milk and butter, abundance of fruit and
vegetables - the water teemed with fish and oysters -
The saltwater creeks and swamps, with ducks -
Great flocks of sea snipe a bird about the size of a pigeon, &
excellent eating, fed on the mullets at low tide,
and as the tide rose crowded on the little sandy
beaches of the islands - so thickly - that one charge
of shot was enough to bring down a dozen or more
at a time - My father was a fine field shot and early
taught me how to use a gun - I was to have one of my
own when I reached the age of ten - how long the years
seemed until that time arrived! - then I was given a
light single barrelled gun, and soon I was able to bring
down a quail or snipe on the wing, and to keep the house
supplied with all the game required - Our chief outlay
was for groceries, principally, flour tea & sugar, which
we got from Sydney by a small ketch which loaded
between that port, and Booral wharf at the tidal head
of the Kurnah river - It was a case for self help all the