On December 25^th 1839 William Colton and Charles Thomas Hewett after having landed at Port Adelaide with their families rode horse back to the McLaren Vale area to look over the land that they had secured while in England. They were obviously impressed by what they saw and each selected a large area of land in a locality known as Doringo Valley in what was called Survey District C in the Noarlunga district. They then returned to Adelaide where they loaded their goods onto three bullock drays and made their way to their properties through the Adelaide Hills and over the Onkaparinga River to begin a new Life.