Tryphena Grace Lavis

  Noted events in her life were:

• source. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=foxwf60 where it is written:
Memories from Tryphena Lavis.
Edward John Lavis and his wife Amelia with their children came from the Hunter River area. They were farming at Morpeth and Raymond Terrace, they left through floods, had one after another. They first came to Lismore and then to Alphdale, Amelia sat on logs with the children whilst Edward cleared enough scrub to erect a tent. He selected 400 acres at Cowlong. He first, cleared enough scrub to build a house. The timber was cut from logs. He pit sawed all the slabs and shingles on the roof; the house was lined with Hessian. Amelia glued paper onto the Hessian. They had a large chimney built on the ground with a dirt floor, with iron bars on stones to stand their cooking pots on. They had a big set of bellows hanging up and in the morning would blow the fire up. Amelia cooked all her bread in a camp oven.
Edward worked very hard to clear the scrub and sowed it down to grass. He built a big dairy. They used to set the milk in big dishes over night. The next morning they would skim the cream off and put it in a churn to make butter and press it into blocks to sell. The skimmed milk was made into cheese. It was a lot of work pressing it often to get the whey from the milk. It was then pressed into round blocks ready for sale.
Edwin when helping his father to clear the scrub broke his leg and had to lie on his back for 9 months for it to knit.
Edward gave Edwin 100 acres and when he married Rubeun was given 100 acres on the other side of the farm. Herbert, when he married also received 100 acres at the back of the farm, this ran into Pearce's creek. Rose and George Bryant rented this section from Herbert until George finally bought the neighboring farm.
Tryphena recalls how she would walk to school on a track through the thick scrub to Eltham. She would only attend school one day every three weeks as the teacher had to go the McLean's Ridges and Pearce's Creek. She often came across the aboriginals. The men would often have carpet snakes around their necks, which they had caught for food. She recalls that the women were very friendly.