My great grandfather William Larcombe arrived in Launceston, Tasmania in December 1856 aboard the ship Alice Walton. William was then aged 25. He was accompanied by his 2o year old wife Sarah (nee Parker) and their two small children; Leah and Thomas. The family were from Devon,
Read more →A SMALL PIECE OF WOOD Apparently wooden ‘dolly pegs’ were originally hand made by Gypsies in the UK, who sold them door to door. Sometimes they were carved from hedgerow wood, sometimes they were just a couple of sticks bound together with strips of tin. In Tasmania
Read more →DEMON BOWLING OR DREADFUL BATTING? I recently came across the newspaper report of an 1893 cricket match between the rural communities of Exton and Reedy Marsh, in northern Tasmania. EXTON V REEDY MARSH A match was played on Saturday between the above clubs on the Exton Club’s
Read more →Introduced to Australia with the First Fleet, rabbits began to breed in plague proportions, especially in Tasmania. As early as 1827 the Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser reported: ‘…the common rabbit is becoming so numerous throughout the colony, that they are running about on some large estates
Read more →My maternal grandparents James and Nora Larcombe raised a large family on a sheep farm at Reedy Marsh, seven miles from the small town of Deloraine in northern Tasmania. The pair married just before WWI , when James was a crusty old bachelor. Norah May Upston
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