Elizabeth 'Granny' Sproats

Elizabeth epitomises the South Coast’s pioneering women. 'They' (as the authors of ‘They Made This Valley Home’ contend) ‘survived isolation, hardships and the risks of childbirth to be homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, cook, baker, butcher, garment maker, gardener, poultry famer, etc…they were the glue that held the family together.’ And, when called upon, they provided essential services to their fledgling communities.

Elizabeth and her husband, Christopher, emigrated from England under a Government Assisted Emigration Scheme in 1858 - just 7 years after Bega township had been surveyed. Their first child was to die on the voyage to Sydney.

They became tenant farmers at Five Islands (near Port Kembla today) before spending about six months from mid-1860 trekking ‘overland…blazing their own track’ to Bega with their toddler son, and with Elizabeth pregnant. They had been ‘engaged for a term of six months by the late Dr King; the six months had expired before they arrived’!

In 1863 they selected land and built a slab house at Frog’s Hollow (about 13km south of Bega) where they remained until 1875. Here Elizabeth was to give birth to her tenth and last child.
Elizabeth grew produce to sell, and regularly walked into Bega carrying butter, eggs and other products from their farm and garden.

In 1875 the Sproats family moved to Wapengo (north of Tathra) where Christopher and their two oldest sons (who by now had turned 14 years old, the permissible school leaving age) erected a homestead and utility buildings from timber felled from their property.

Their home was described as a ‘comfortable home noted for its hospitality to all and sundry’ and where ‘many a wayfarer found rest and comfort.’ Elizabeth also became the local midwife and nurse, with their home including a ‘birthing room’ for those in Elizabeth’s care.

By 1881 Christopher had also built and furnished the first Wapengo School on two acres of his land.

In 1888 one of the women for whom Elizabeth had previously been midwife died from severe burns when her dress caught alight from an open fire. Elizabeth and Christopher thereafter raised her then 14-month-old daughter as part of their family.

A report in the 'Bombala Herald' in October 1884 includes mention of the valuable role that ‘Granny’ Sproats played as the local community’s nurse:

'A man named Joseph Downs...was by himself in a hut on the land of Fred Hansen at Murrah.

A moderate fire burned in the usual large open fireplace, a bucket of water stood simmering on one side of the fire, and Downs about to eat his dinner sat on a stool before the fire. Suddenly he was caught by a fit and fell face forwards into the embers. As he fell, he upset the pail of hot water which quenched the hottest part of the fire, but his head went into the mixture of scalding water and hot ashes, and there he lay for about two hours before he recovered consciousness.

As soon as he came to his senses he managed to rise, and walked over to James Bird’s place, about 2 miles away. Bird hastily soaked some calico in oil and applied it to poor Downs, who, by this time had gone blind, and then Bird hurried off to get assistance. With all possible speed Downs was conveyed to Wapengo, where Mrs Sproats attended to the severe injuries upon the sufferer’s face, tongue, arm and hands. We believe Dr Evershed went out twice to Wapengo, and on Wednesday the patient was conveyed by Mr Killian Koellner to his residence at Tarraganda, where Downs will be nearer to medical aid.' (Joseph Downs seems to have survived the trauma, living until 1901.)

‘Granny’ Sproats died at Wapengo in 1912, aged 78.