noon
That is my first recollection of life . I was barely three . I can remember the majestic gum-trees surrounding us , the sun glinting on their straight white trunks , and falling on the gurgling fern-banked stream , which disappeared beneath a steep scrubby hill on our left . It was an hour past noon on a long clear summer day . We were on a distant part of the run , where my father had come to deposit salt . He had left home early in the dewy morning , carrying me in front of him on a little brown pillow which my mother had made for the purpose . We had put the lumps of rock-salt in the troughs on the other side of the creek .