Born in 1820 in Parramatta, the son of William Walker (1787-1854), a Scottish merchant who traded in NSW and London.

Walker (junior) became one of his father's agents in Australia and married Elizabeth Corientia Browne in 1845 in Victoria.

Walker (junior) was renowned for living the life of the English country gentleman and is described by Rolf Boldrewood who visited them.

He said:[5]: 157 They lived the happy untrammelled free life of the Australian Squire for such in effect is the status and surroundings of the pastoral proprietor of flocks and herds colloquially termed a Squatter.

And the large stock holder with his herd of cattle, his flocks of sheep, his stud of well-bred horses lived much the same sort of life as his English precursor, the Lord of the Manor.Mary Braidwood Mowle also visited them on their Kameruka property and described Elizabeth as "a pretty looking English woman with bright sparkling eyes and lady like unaffected manners".

Walker (junior) was an enthusiastic sportsman and he organised a meeting of 19 yachtsmen in his office and they decided to form a club which was subsequently called the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

He returned to Sydney but did not continue to practice law and instead followed his father into pastoral pursuits and was a famous breeder of race horses.

When Busby died in 1887, Redleaf was placed on the market and the Lassetter family bought the house and moved in c. 1892.

Over the next ten years Lassetter worked to develop the firm and in 1863 it was renamed F. Lasseter and Co. which was later to become one of the biggest department stores in Sydney employing over 1000 workers.

In 1897 he built a house next to Redleaf called St Brigids for his son, Arthur Bowring Lassetter (1868-1935) and his new wife, Mabel Annie Slater (1865-1941).

His father was John Kenneth Mackay (1828-1909), a wealthy pastoralist who owned the station Cangon near Dungog.

All of their four sons volunteered for service during World War I and returned home to pursue pastoral pursuits.

For the first five years they rented the property to Mrs Annie Hall who turned it into a venue for weddings, parties and other events.