Kersley was born in Medstead, Hampshire in England on 19 January 1817 and was baptised on 17 February 1817[1] at St Andrew's Church.
Carey visited Britain between 1841 and 1843 and, in 1844, he leased Avondale to James Bartram and George Kersley for four years, for an annual rental of £35 and improvements.
The improvements included a 'good and substantial dwelling house with a stone foundation and rammed earth walls' to the value of £100 sterling, a barn worth £50 and 50 acres (20 ha) of land cleared.
The southwest portion of Location 14 was the site of soldiers barracks, a mud brick structure built in the 1830s and most likely used by the lessees of Avondale.
In 1852, Bartram and Kersley renewed their lease of Avondale for another five years.The buildings they constructed were most likely those marked on a 1910 survey map of the property and situated some distance northwest of the current Homestead.
The Police Gazette of 4 February 1880 tells of the mysterious burning of 70 chains of fencing on the property Nookering owned by Kersley in the Beverley district.