Stepping back in time

1. Horsing around, 2. Sweet old style toys, 3. The group learning about the Mayes family, 4. Native Blue-banded bee nests, 5. Bush turkey mound

We have visited Mayes cottage previously, but this time we went with our homeschool group and were treated to a tour of the house and grounds, as well as demonstrations of milking and making butter. The children played with hobby horses, horseshoe toss and hula hoops and tried to imagine a time before phones and electricity. A time when people bartered their goods and made do with what they could grow, build or make.

This time my fascination lay with the fruiting trees on the property. Very old macadamia trees had dropped their nuts, and self seeded Brazialian cherry bushes were in fruit. Several guava trees were also in fruit, but not yet ripe, and we were invited back to pick our share once they were ready. We filled our pockets with nuts and cherry seeds, which I have since planted out. And I was thrilled to see the nests of native blue banded bees on the old slab hut. 

In homeschooling my children I feel like I am back at 'school' again too. I am learning about the world and our history all over again, alongside them.

Mayes Cottage

I am fascinated by historic places. I am easily absorbed by the details frozen in time. The objects, patinas, handiwork. I took a brochure home with me today from Mayes Cottage and read about the family that called this house their home. Though I had visited and appreciated the Cottage before, it didn't come alive for me until today, when I read about the lives of its inhabitants.

The slab hut in the first photo was home to John and Emily Mayes and their children, Joshua and Ruth, who arrived in Brisbane from England in 1871. This pioneer family went on to have four more children in this hut, before moving into the two-bedroom home they built beside it, called Pleasant Place, and having a seventh child. 

It is truly astonishing to think of eight people calling that tiny hut home, while Emily used an open fire to cook and a hollowed-out anthill as an oven. In England, John had been a gardener and Emily a house servant. Here in Australia, they had freedom over their destiny and 321 acres of land, on which they grew fruit, sold lumber and eventually settled into dairy farming. 

My children were reminded of the book the 'Little House on The Prairie', and the house that Pa built with his own two hands. Though I'm not sure any of us could truly appreciate the many hardships and practicalities of eight people living in a space the size of a single car garage, especially in an Australian Summer. What luxury a small two bedroom house would have felt!