Joseph was my Great-Grandfather. I was until now, unaware that he had been in the Orphan School at 3 years, albeit for only 2 months, with his older brother Edward. Mother Mary was given to drinking and leaving the children alone, perhaps when father Joseph was working away.  It would be at the point when these children were discharged that Joseph and Mary left their home in Melville St Hobart and went north to become very successful pioneers of the town of Perth near Launceston.

Although materially Joseph did well in life, he suffered throughout his life from depression and I wonder how much the experience in the orphanage scarred him. Joseph twice attempted suicide, succeeding in 1892. None of his beautiful daughters married and his son, my grandfather, did not marry until 49. Joseph and his parents are listed on the Founders and Survivors website.