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It was, for the Morgantis, a small touch of home ~ and for their Australian friends a
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glimpse of that home.
The family's livestock included cattle for meat and dairy suppUes, pigs for ham,
bacon and pork and large numbers of hens for poultry and eggs. The Morgantis cured
their own meats and made butter and cheese. Not being familiar with the raising of
sheep, mutton and lamb were among the few items acquired outside the home. Fish,
which occupied a small part of the Ticinese diet, was bought tinned from a local store.
The family supplemented its food supplies by scouring the countryside for field
mushrooms and blackberries, which grew along the creeks. The resourcefulness and
the experience which comes from Uving through lean times and famine were evident in
these practices. The remaining needs of the family, such as clothing and fiimiture,
were also met through their own labour, most tasks being carried out in the sheds and
workshops surrounding the home. Each family member was encouraged to leam the
skills of blacksmithing or building, further reducing the family's reliance on the outside,
commercial world.
While the children were young, they attended the local Deep Creek National
School, a govemment-mn institution which had opened on 1 November 1861. In the
later Common Schools period, the schoolhouse consisted of a wooden building
designed to accommodate 82 pupils, an indication of the high growth rate of the area.
In 1881, the name of the school changed from Deep Creek to Eganstown and in 1882,
a new schoolhouse made of brick was buih to accommodate 100 pupils. The
younger Morganti children all attended this school and were taught by Mr Shepardson,
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