Stubberfield family of Trigg

This collection of six historic photographs includes photographs from several generations of Stubberfields.

The earliest photographs are from the 1800s of George (John) Stubberfield and his wife Mary Burgess.

Richard and Christina were married in 1878 and the collection includes a photograph of them with their seven children.

Later, Richard and Christina's son, George, and his wife Dorothy (who were married in 1929) lived in Trigg.

The Stubberfield family worked hard to make a living in the dunes. They sold fresh fish caught at Trigg Beach to the local hotel and hospital, kept ducks, bantams, pigs, a cow and a black goat named Nellie, and tended to a small market garden.

Grape and passionfruit vines flourished in the hot, dry summers and well-drained soil and Dorothy made extra income selling suckers from the family’s fig tree, which became known locally as “the Stubberfield fig.” One sucker was taken to Sydney, where it is believed to survive today.

Daily tasks were shaped by isolation. Washing was boiled in a copper tub and dried on chicken wire or a sapling clothesline. With no gas or electricity, the house was lit by kerosene lamp.  During the war, while George was serving away, Dorothy extended the house, enriched the sandy soil with scraps from the local hotel and continued growing produce despite harsh conditions.

Bushfires were a constant threat. Dorothy often fought flames herself to protect her four children and the home. Trenches were dug near the school in case of air raids. Surrounded by bush, the family’s plan was to “run for the scrub.”

Today, the old fig tree remains as a living reminder of the resilience it took to call this place home.