The hardest Goodbye

James sat by the bed in quiet contemplation.  Sarah was dying. In truth she had been dying since William was born five months ago.

She stirred and he turned, hopeful that she might wake and return to him.  Alas, this was not to be, she remained the same.  It was as if a paralysis had set in, the doctors said some form of infection after the birth had got into her blood.

He had loved Sarah from the moment he set eyes on her.  He had been working as a shoe maker in the Main Road at Oatlands, back then there wasn’t much more than a Main Road in Oatlands.  Sarah had gone into the shop to get her mistress’s shoe repaired.  He took twice as long to repair it than was necessary, while he chatted and got to know her a little better.

That was 24 years and 12 children earlier.  She made him want to be a better person.  The fact that he had come out ‘involuntary’ didn’t bother her, she herself had come out with the orphan scheme, looking for a fresh start. 

Sarah was a hard worker and together they built up their finances and property, working towards the day they would have their own pub.  She was the best mother a man could ask for.  What would become of their children now, how would he cope when she passed? How would any of them cope?  Tears ran down his cheeks at the very thought of being without her.

The Laundress

As Elizabeth hung another shirt on the line she contemplated her life and that of her daughters.  It was no arguing that it was tough and she cursed her husband who had put her on this path.  Life in Shepton Mallet hadn’t quite turned out like she thought it would.  

After marrying her childhood sweetheart and having the four girls life was grand, yes it was tough and work was hard to find in the country for a builder but she still envisaged a peaceful life with Charles, a cottage and perhaps a bit of land.   The girls could go to school and hopefully marry a good man too.  

When work got even harder to find they had hatched a plan. After seeing the advertisements in the paper asking for builders under the Bounty Scheme they decided to apply, it seemed like an answer from heaven.

Charles left in 1841 for Van Diemen’s Land, the plan had been for him to go ahead and once settled she and the girls would follow.  She made excuses for him when the money and letters stopped a year later and resigned herself to the fact that he was dead.  In 1852 her sister in laws husband was sent out for life and wrote that he had run across Charles, with one of his sons. 

With one daughter dead, Elizabeth felt trapped, trapped in a cycle of hard work, poverty and illness all at the hand of that heartless bastard.

The Miner

Charles sat out the front of his dusty tent, bone weary from another day digging and no gold. His son sat across from him and he wondered if he had done the right thing to bring him over to Bendigo away from his mother and home.

Ah home, thought Charles fondly.  He was homesick so he couldn’t begin to imagine how the boy felt.  Oatlands might not be anything flash but it was better than this godforsaken place.  What he wouldn’t do to be sitting in front of the fire with Betsy.  God, even her rabbit stew would taste good compared to the mouldy damper he’d just had.  He chuckled at the thought of this, things must be bad if he was remembering that stew fondly.  Betsy was the best wife a man could want, but as for cooking, he didn’t like to speak badly of his wife, but she wasn’t the best in the kitchen!

He closed his eyes to wander down the main street of Oatlands, to his cottage at the north end of the street then south past the mill to his friend George’s shop where they spent many hours discussing the town and beyond.

Dammit, he thought, why am I here working my guts out for nothing and getting into more debt borrowing money for Betsy to live on when I could just go home and work. And with that thought his mind was made up, it was time for him and the boy to head home.