Clara and Alfred Murphy

Clara Jane Sandercock Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
was born in the District of Talunga, presumably at Cudlee Creek, near Kenton Valley, on 28 July, 1868. As an infant she came to Riverton with her parents, to the farm her father Richard Click to open page on Richard Sandercock worked in partnership with his younger brother Samuel Click to open page on Samuel Sandercock
. Nothing is known of Clara's Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
education as a girl, and as the Sandercock farm was several miles north of the town, getting to school each day presumably meant walking or riding into Riverton. As the elder daughter, there were no doubt many ways to help her mother about the house.

At the age of nearly 19, Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
married Alfred Bryan Murphy Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
at Riverton. Alfred, known as Alf Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
, had come from Newquay in Cornwall with his sister Ann at the age of about 15 or 16. With the Murphys came a family named Michell, who later started a wool washing plant at Undayla, a little north of Riverton. Alf Murphy Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
worked at Michell‘s wool wash and tannery Click to open page on Michell‘s wool wash and tannery while he and Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
were also living at Undayla. Between 1889 and 1892, after the two eldest children Leslie and Victor were born, the Michell wool-treatment operation transferred its business to the Adelaide western suburb of Hindmarsh, and Alf Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
and his wife and young family also moved to Hindmarsh to live. Alf Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
built a house at Jervois Street, West Hindmarsh, and continued to work for Michells for a total of 64 years.

Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
and Alf's Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
five younger children were all born at Hindmarsh. Elsie May, born in 1892, died of sunstroke about the age of two years. Roy, born in 1895, died of tuberculosis as a young man. Of the three youngest Murphy children, only Gertrude, Mrs Staunton, and Doris, Mrs Rostron, are still living.

Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
and Alf's Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
house at Hindmarsh was in the next street to the Michell business. Four rooms were built first, and later, about 1910, the front two rooms were added. There was enough land to grow a lot of vegetables, and evidently Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
herself was largely responsible for maintaining the garden. It was a ritual in the Murphy household that Alf Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
always pruned his front garden roses on the June Holiday weekend. Other than this, Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
is remembered as the hardworking partner of the marriage. She was an excellent sewing and dressmaking woman, with smocking a special gift. She looked after the horse, could mend shoes and soles when the need arose, and wasn't too busy to turn her hand to house-painting either. She was something of an artist, painting in both oils and watercolours. Numerous pictures of Edwardian storks and waterlilies, painted on glass, were recalled by her daughter Doris as having been painted by Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
.

Clara Murphy Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
died at 19 Jervois Street, New Hindmarsh, on 27 March, 1943, in her 75th year. She was buried at the Hindmarsh cemetery. Alf Click to open page on Alfred Bryan Murphy
, who had retired from Michells with an annuity and a special presentation of an armchair, died on 12 April, 1949, two days before his 85th birthday. He was buried with Clara Click to open page on Clara Sandercock
at Hindmarsh.