Langlands

In 1840, Robert Langlands, a young man from Scotland, left his family and crossed the ocean for love. The woman he wanted, Agnes, had been sent to Australia for a minor offence, so he followed her. After landing in Melbourne he travelled straight on to Sydney to propose.

Meanwhile, his brother George and George's wife, Betsy, were struggling financially and considered an offer to open a post office in western Victoria. They packed their five children, including six-year-old Margaret, the author's future grandmother, onto three bullock drays. They then travelled about 300 miles toward a survey peg on the Wimmera River, marked as the site of a town to be called Horsham.

Robert opened a foundry on Flinders Street in 1841. It prospered, and Horsham grew up around the Langlands store.