Ebe was the first-born son of Ebenezer and Isabella and a third generation Australian. In time he was to have three sisters and six brothers. They spent most of their childhood at their grandfather’s coach house, the Half Way Inn at King’s Plains which Ebe’s parents managed for his grandfather.

Eventually Ebe, who had gone into mining, was able to get a house at Dark Corner with a wooden floor that was better than the earth floor of many mining houses. When Nellie was 21 they were married in a ceremony in the garden of the farmhouse.

Working in Lackey Mine at Dark Corner was hard and took its toll of Ebe’s health. He eventually died at 54 from dusted lungs and heavy metal poisoning.
— Margaret Hardwick