Last
update July 2009 Created by Tony Maple: imlac2005@grapevine.com.au
Thomas & Elizabeth Maple at Yankalilla
Thomas Maple's cottage at Yankalilla c.1890
Hay
Flat
By around late 1855 Thomas and Elizabeth seem to have
established themselves at Spring Bank near Hay Flat south of Yankalilla township. At the time
it was going through an agricultural boom as it produced wheat to feed the
gold miners and immigrants in Victoria.
Situated in one of the wettest parts of South Australia, the hills were
thickly covered in stringy-bark and wattle but the well-grassed valleys
supported wheat growing and sheep. The area was thickly settled with farmers
from England and Scotland with a few Irish. Most were “dissenters”
in that they adhered to the Wesleyan, Bible Christian and Methodist faiths.
In the early days families often lived in small
wattle-and-daub huts with thatched roofs. Men and boys started work before
dawn with yoked bullocks drawing a single furrow plough or wagons. Women cared
for children and the home. Social gatherings were often centred on the local
church, and the annual ploughing match passed for entertainment. The Maples
mixed with and married into other local families including those of Tonkin,
Bowyer, Torr, Polkinghorne, Gann, Roads and Pearce.
