The Sinclairs, Mitchells, Louttets and Millers left their villages in the Orkneys, Caithness and the Lothians in Scotland to become pioneer settlers in the unknown Great Southland in search of opportunities for a better future.
On arrival at the Port of Melbourne in the early 1850s, the Sinclairs established themselves as master builders in Melbourne, and the Mitchell and Louttet cousins headed off to Creswick in search of gold.
Agnes Sinclair, the eldest daughter of William and Helen Sinclair, of Carlton, was the first postmistress at Lake Rowan in 1886.
Her brother George gained the contract to extend Scots Presbyterian Church, Thoona, in 1898.
In the early 1900s George built the marital home for his friend Davey Martin, a pioneer at Bungeet, and in 1903 Davey married Agnes and George’s sister Janet Sinclair.
On his return from three years working in the Transvaal in Africa, George Sinclair married Elizabeth Mitchell in Melbourne in 1905.
Together they purchased acreage in the Bungeet District, and with their three young sons, Tom, Ferg and Colin commenced farming there.
The three boys all attended Bungeet Primary School. The family returned to Elizabeth's family home in St Kilda Rd, Melbourne, for a year to educate their sons at Wesley College.
Twelve months later they again returned to their beloved Bungeet and remained there with their sons, until their deaths.
Tom, Ferg and Colin all farmed at Bungeet and Thoona.
The boys married and brought up their children Ian (dec), Heather, Margaret, Colin, Geoffrey and Graham on the farms.
The fourth generation remain in the district and continue the farming legacy.
Three generations of Sinclair descendants have been married at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Benalla.
Faith and family are the threads that have passed from generation to generation for centuries to weave the Sinclair tapestry.
