Stephen was described as a man of exceptionally fine physique (at 24 years of age he stood 6 ft. 3 in. high and weighed 16 stone.). We know that Stephen was working as a labourer in 1860, He helped form the main road to Nairne. At various times in his life he was a labourer, sawyer and in later years, a dairy farmer.
In 1863, Stephen travelled to New Zealand to try his luck in the Otago gold rush. He wrote an article in the South Australian Register which was published 3rd September 1863.
Sir— Having just returned from New Zealand, and being aware of your desire to place reliable information on all matters
of public interest before your readers. I have been induced to record my experience of the gold diggings there, trusting that an account of the privations and dangers undergone by those who have been venturesome enough to proceed thither may deter others from following their example, and sharing their disappointment nnd suffering. I arrived at Dunedin in January last, and after remaining there two days set out for the Dunstan. The route thither is intersected with rivers, distant about four or five miles from each other, and averaging from two to three feet in depth, There are also huge mountains which it takes three or four hours to climb, and timber is so scarce that you may at times travel 40, 80, or 100 miles without seeing a stick - of wood thicker than the stalk of a tobacco-pipe. I have spent as much as three hours in boiling a two-quart billy with grass, the snow falling during the whole time. It is a frequent thing after travelling 14 or 15 miles to be obliged to creep under a rock for shelter, because the thickness of the snow upon the ground will not admit of the erection of a tent. On the 18th April last a billy of tea which I had placed in my tent was frozen quite hard, and it was not unusual to have to ford a frozen river while the weather was so cold as to freeze the water resting on one's hair into ice, and after crossing it to encounter a snowstorm lasting for four or five hours, and covering the ground to a depth of about 1* inches. In addition to this landslips are very common on the Shotover diggings; and I have known as many as 40 men having been overwhelmed by one of these. The hospitals at that and the other diggings are crowded with inmates suffering from scurvy and the effects of frost. Hundreds have been frostbitten, and it is no uncommon thing to see persons who have lost a limb, or their ears or nose, from this cause. On the Tomahawk diggings the price of flour is 18d. per lb., mutton 18d., beef 18d., sugar 18d., and other things in proportion. The digger's working there are making on an average three grains of gold per day, and hundreds employ themselves in gathering the Maori cabbage and in shooting cockawes to obtain a livelihood. Scores of men go over the mountains to fetch a kind of firewood called hardlines, or Irish scrub, which they sell at 5s. a bundle, and it has frequently cost me sixpence to buy wood sufficient to boil a billy with. At the last diggings to which I went, the Hogburn rush, I found about a foot of snow on the ground, and being without a stick of firewood i had to scrape away the snow and spread my blanket on the ground to pass the night upon. Hundreds are going to the diggings every day and hundreds returning, the average amount of gold obtained being about 1 dwt. a day for four men. The diggings are mostly situated near the beds of rivers, and whenever the sun shines a flood ensues, in consequence of the snow on the mountains being made to melt. There are hundreds of persons wandering about the streets of Duuedin without the means of getting employment or food, and numbers are volunteering to go and fight the Maories in order to procure something to eat. Trusting you wili insert these few unvarnished statements, I am, Sir, &c. STEPHEN CHILDS. Little Hampton, September 2.
In 1970, he went north to work on the Darwin to Roper River section of the Overland Telegraph Line project. The building of this line was considered to be the greatest engineering feat of 19th century Australia. It was completed in 1872 and subsequently connected to the Java to Darwin under-sea cable. Australia's communication time with Europe was reduced from months to hours.

The Overland Telegraph gang. It is possible that Stephen CHILDS is the man standing on the cart on the left leaning against the bags.
In 1890, Stephen was a councillor with the Mount Barker Council.
In 1891, Stephen CHILDS lived at allotments Nos. 99, 100, 101 in Littlehampton. As best as I can tell, this is on the western side of Clem's Lane about 80metres west from the junction of Clem's Lane and Cleggett Road.
In 1892, Stephen Childs reported Annie Elizabeth Daly for maliciously damaging wreaths and ribbons on the grave of Beatrice Childs in the Blakiston churchyard. The case went to trial but was dismissed. Stephen was for many years a member of the Loyal Britannia Lodge of Oddfellows, Mount Barker, and made a commanding and influential marshal on special occasions, such as pro-cessions in connection with the lodge picnics. He had much, experience with stock, and his services and advice were frequently sought in veterinary cases.
In his last year, he contracted bronchitis and subsequently was afflicted with dropsy (Dropsy was an old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water. Today, the major or underlying causes of dropsy are said to be congestive heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure, and malnutrition).