A day in the life (Australia 1864)

Twelve-year-old Sarah Jenkins helped her mother churn butter in the early morning light, their slab hut cool with the scent of eucalyptus smoke from the hearth. Her father was already outside, mending a fence that the kangaroos had knocked over in the night. After chores, Sarah carried water from the creek, then sat on the verandah with her slate and spelling book, her bare feet dusty.

By midday, a neighbor rode past on horseback and handed Sarah’s mother a wrapped parcel. Tea and sugar from town. Sarah watched him disappear down the dusty track, then went back to peeling potatoes for supper.

That evening, as the sun dipped behind the hills, the family sat by the fire, listening to her father read from a worn Bible, the day quieting around them.