John, son of William and Elizabeth (née Simpson) Herd was born on 1 November 1798 in Belfast, Ireland. He married Janet née Park about 1820. They had the following children all born at Belfast, Northern Ireland:
William — born about 1820, died on 31 March 1908
Mary — born about 1821, married Francis Bennett, died 24 May 1885 at Kewell aged 63
Eliza — born about 1823, died 12 April 1901 at Geelong West
Jane — born about 1826, died 4 February 1895 at Ararat
John — born about 1827, died before the family emigrated
Agnes — born about 1828, died 8 April 1899 at Stawell
Sarah — born about 1830, married John McGill on 9 January 1849 at Christ Church Geelong, died February 1877 at Belmont Victoria

​John and Janet came to Australia with their family as assisted immigrants on the Manderin​ in 1838 arriving in Sydney. They travelled to Port Phillip on the Hope soon after.

John was a pioneer of the district in 1848 when he took up a pastoral run of 21,000 acres at Airey's Inlet and established the Loutitt Bay Cattle Station. 

​Early in 1850 he established a market garden in Thornhill Road, Highton.

​He became a councillor of the South Barwon Shire, serving from 1859 until 1863. He was appointed as a magistrate ex officio. He was one of the first trustees for the 10½ acre Barrabool Hills (Highton) Cemetery when it was established in 1855. He was also a trustee for Queens Park. In 1864 he became a member of the Anglican School Committee. His son-in-law Francis Bennett was also on the committee. 

​John died on 1 February 1885 at Kewell North and was buried in un unmarked grave at Warracknabeal Cemetery. Janet died on 4 September 1876 at Highton.

Andrew Keith was the son of Andrew Keith and Euphemia née McCallum, both aged 34, who sailed from Scotland in 1853 in the Sir William Molesworth​. According to shipping records (which do not agree with cemetery records) they brought with them three children:
   Andrew — aged 7
​   Margaret — aged 4
   Daniel — aged 1

The family farmed land at Freshwater Creek for many years before Andrew senior handed over the farm work to his eldest son, Andrew, and retired to live in Belmont, Geelong.

​On 23 September 1873 Andrew​ married Elizabeth Paterson, daughter of William and Elizabeth Paterson. Their children were:
​Andrew James (James) — born on 22 September 1874 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1951 aged 76 years
William Bruce — born in 1874 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1876
Charles — born in 1877 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1940 at Berwick aged 64
Robert Livingstone — born in 1878 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1953 at Geelong West aged 75
Malcolm — born in 1879 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1943 at Wangaratta
​Elizabeth Euphemia — born in 1881 at Freshwater Creek
John Alexander (Alexander) — born in 1883 at Freshwater Creek
Lily
Margaret Agnes (Maggie) — born in 1884 at Freshwater Creek, died in 1922 aged 37 years 
​Jessie Campbell Abercromby— born in 1891 at Geelong, died in April 1925 aged 32 years
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Andrew died on 24 January 1923 in Belmont aged 80 and was buried in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. Elizabeth who died on 14 March 1902 at the age of 43 is buried with him. They share a plot with Andrew's parents and two children, William who died as an infant and Maggie who died in June 1922 aged 37. Daughter Jessie who died in April 1925 is buried in a separate location in the Methodist section of the Mount Duneed Cemetery. 

​Andrew's sister Margaret Campbell Keith married Thomas Kirkland Dow, a well known agricultural journalist and son of David Hill Dow of Forest Station.
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Pictured at right is Private Charles Keith (5038) before taken before serving in the 21st Battalion. He was a farmer from Longwarry prior to enlistment. He returned to Australia on 9 April 1919.

​Thomas Vaughan was born about 1829. He married Catherine (also known as Kate) Perdue in 1855. She was born about 1834. They had the following children:
Thomas Henry — born 1856 at Ballarat
​Lucy Ann ​— born 1858 at Ballarat, married James Williamson Nicol on 23 August 1883, died in 1935 at Malvern East aged 76 years
Alfred Perdue — born 1860 at Ballarat, married Rebecca Alison (Alice) Shierlaw on 9 May 1889, died 1923 at Box Hill aged 62
Edith Alberta — born 1862, died 1932 at Armadale Victoria
Diana Gertrude — born 1864, died 1907 at St Kilda
Ida May — born 1865, died 1953 at Elwood aged 88 years
Joseph Charles — born 1866 at Geelong, died 1939 at Cheltenham

When Thomas agreed to seek election as a South Barwon councillor to fill the vacancy caused by the recent retirement of Sharp Brearley, he was described in the Geelong Advertiser as "a man of wealth and standing in the borough, has plenty of leisure, and is in every respect competent to fill the office of councillor in a manner calculated to advance the interests of the borough". He served from 1869 until 1875.

Thomas died on 14 May 1897 at his residence, Sunnyside at Marshalltown, at the age of 68. He had been a resident of Marshalltown for 30 years and a colonist of 47 years. He was buried in the Church of England section of the Geelong Eastern Cemetery with Catherine who died on 27 February 1877 at the age of 43. Their daughter, Diana Gertrude, who died at St Kilda in December 1907 at the age of 44 was interred with them.


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​​William Higgins arrived on the Larpent on 28 June 1849 with his parents and brothers and sisters, at the age of 15.

​His father the Rev William Higgins was a Congregational Minister. Rev Higgins, formerly of Trinity Chapel in London was the chaplain on the Larpent. He participated at 3 christenings and 1 marriage during the trip. There were 5 births and 10 deaths, mainly children, during the trip. 200 of the passengers had been selected by Rev John Dunmore Lang and consigned to Dr Alexander Thompson, who was a supporter of the Sydney Presbyterian minister John Dunmore Lang, whose wish was to encourage the migration of hard-working, God-fearing Protestants to the colony. He sponsored two ships, the Travancore and the Larpent, to bring the settlers to Australia in 1849 with Thomson ready to receive and settle them. Thomson owned section 10 of the parish of Barrabool known as the Kardinia section — a square mile of undulating land.
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William jnr was a solicitor whose company was eventually known as W & W Higgins. He brought up his family of eleven children at Shoubra in Highton which at that time was surrounded by 38 acres opposite the Church of England in South Valley Road.  He became superintendent of the little Congregational Sunday School on the east side of Valley Road.

He was a South Barwon Shire councillor from 1871 until 1892. He was mayor of the Borough from 1871 until 1874. He was president of the Shire of South Barwon 1874-76, 1880-81, ​1883-85 and 1888-1889. As Mayor he laid the foundation stone at the Wesleyan church on 2 October 1873. A bottle was placed under the stone containing copies of the Geelong Advertiser, Wesleyan Chronicle and documents connected with church affairs.

​He was a director of the Kardinia Estate Co in the 1890s. It was not successful because of the depression. He was a member of the gentlemen's committee of the refuge for women at Kildare.

He died on 3 May 1892 at the age of 58 years from apoplexy and was buried in the Independent section of the Geelong Western Cemetery. He had recently returned from a tour to Europe. His wife, Sarah Ann (née Davey), died on 6 Oct 1911 at the age of 76 years and was buried with him.