Diprose Book

The Diprose and Children families

Thomas (1781-1865) and Elizabeth (nee Children 1782-1868) Diprose arrived in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land (later called Tasmania), Australia, in 1823 with their eight children, after a six-month voyage on the Berwick. Their youngest son Isaac was born four months later. Thomas obtained a land grant, initially of 500 acres, at Diprose Lagoon, Epping (present-day Cleveland) in the northern Midlands.

Headcorn Parish Church. The burnt stump of the great oak near the south porch, left foreground, 1994

Elizabeth grew up in comfortable circumstances in Kent, England, with her parents and her ten siblings, on her father William’s farm near Headcorn. Some of her Children ancestors and relations were very wealthy. Her pride in her Children ancestry is reflected in her name, Elizabeth Children Diprose, on hers and Thomas’ headstone, now at Carr Villa Cemetery, Launceston, Tasmania. The Childrens had a long tradition of adherence to the Church of England, although several of her siblings were nonconformists. Thomas was part of a family with a strong Baptist tradition. Thomas and Elizabeth were married in 1804. Elizabeth and Thomas were Baptists and many of their descendants have continued the strong nonconformist tradition.

The Diproses’ first years in Van Diemen’s Land were in stark contrast to Elizabeth’s childhood and their life in England. Their land was isolated and they had to contend with the dangers of attack by Aborigines and bushrangers. Thomas and Elizabeth and their nine children all lived for a few years at Iberden, Diprose Lagoon.

Site of Diprose house, Iberden, Diprose Lagoon, 1978

One of Elizabeth and Thomas’ sons, William with his wife Ann (nee Newall) and their children, eventually settled in South Australia. Their other children lived in northern Tasmania. Many of their Tasmanian grandchildren, and some of their great-grandchildren, were pioneers who cleared large acreages on the heavily forested lands of the North-East and North-West of the colony/state to establish their farms. Areas settled included those in and around Scottsdale, Bridport, Ringarooma and Legerwood in the North-East. In the North-West, Isaac and his wife Elizabeth (nee French) finally settled in the Barrington area, and some of Isaac and Elizabeth’s children and grandchildren established farms there and in the Sheffield, Yolla and Sisters Creek areas, as well as in the North-East.

Headstone for Thomas Diprose and Elizabeth Children Diprose,  Carr Villa Cemetery, Launceston, Tasmania