In its pristine state the valley abounded in kangaroos, which were hunted for food by early sealers and whalers at Encounter Bay.

In Devon he purchased the Georgian-style mansion Hallsannery House in the parish of Littleham, from where he continued his interest and management of the Canowie Pastoral Company until his death in 1908.

Other pioneering settlers promptly joined them, including William Robinson, the latter being the first to drive a horse and cart over Mount Terrible.

Although various crops flourished, and sheep were successful, from the very earliest years cattle were known to thrive at Inman Valley and so they predominated.

The pavement of Cambrian bedrock and Permian glacial sediments[19] were exposed during the Tertiary when the Inman River eroded the topography to its present-day surface.