On their arrival they camped near Glenelg, living on salt pork and damper and occasionally shooting parrots and turkeys.
[a] After two months they moved to the Port Phillip District, where they established a sheep run on the Werribee River near Ballan.
[3] In September 1842, Fairbairn was appointed manager of a sheep station on the Glenelg River in the Western District.
[1] A member of the so-called "squattocracy", he was known as one of the "shepherd kings" and was reputedly the first man in Australia to own over a million sheep.
He was also a director of a number of businesses related to his pastoral leases, including the Australian Frozen Meat Export Company.