Thirteen years later, grazier Patrick Leslie decided to look for land north of Penrith where he was renting a farm.

He was the only child born to the Campbell family after their migration in 1808 to North America from Scotland in The Clarendon via Prince Edward Island.

His arrival in Australia on Monday 15 September 1834 in the brig he had purchased, named the Micmac, from Liverpool, Nova Scotia with his wife Temperance and first born son, John Edwin was reported in the Sydney Herald Newspaper of 18 SEPT 1834.

After selling the tinware he transported in the Micmac, and the brig, in Sydney, to finance his Australian venture, Campbell set up an inn at Muswellbrook and acquired two small runs, one on the Hunter River and one on the Gwydir in 1839.

However, Campbell then had the misfortune to experience bad seasons followed by the collapse of several commercial ventures, including the establishment of a boiling down works at Brisbane.

[1] In 1860 McLean leased a house in Sydney and in 1865 built a large mansion at Edgecliffe for his family, although in 1862 he became a Member for the Eastern Downs in the Queensland Parliament.

The partnership made a number of improvements to Westbrook and by the early 1860s planned a more substantial homestead to replace the existing slab building, which had probably been erected by Campbell.

[1] The new homestead was built to the south of the previous one, which was well located in an elevated position overlooking Westbrook Creek and by then had a small "village" of working buildings and accommodation around it.

[1] In 1871 Beit married Sarah Kellet, possibly a relative of his previous wife, but died on the return voyage from an overseas trip in 1872 and his son was born posthumously.

Westbrook was sold by auction in Sydney and was purchased by the firm of Shanahan and Jennings who owned several large stations in New South Wales.

J H Davidson, brother-in-law of Sir Patrick Jennings, past Premier of New South Wales, took up residence at Westbrook with his family.

After Queensland became a self-governing colony in 1859, frequent subdivisions occurred as various land acts sought to break up large runs for agriculture and closer settlement.

[1] Shanahan and Jennings maintained possession of Westbrook until 1898 and planted 60 acres close to the homestead with vineyards, chestnuts, olives, peaches, and other fruit.

The building is surrounded by a wide verandah with a separate concave roof of corrugated iron supported on timber posts.

In 1841, John "Tinker" Campbell was one of the first squatters to settle on the Darling Downs; taking up a large run he named Westbrook.

Westbrook Homestead illustrates the pattern of early European exploration and settlement of Queensland where the development of pastoral properties preceded agriculture and the establishment of towns.

Westbrook Homestead and its grounds, on which other buildings once stood, have the potential to reveal information about the history of one of the earliest pastoral stations in Queensland.

Westbrook Homestead has special associations with the community as the residence of one of the earliest pastoral stations established on the Darling Downs.

Westbrook Homestead has associations with the life and work of its early owners who were important in the establishment of the pastoral industry on the Downs, including John "Tinker" Campbell who established the station; Henry Hughes who, after returning to England, lobbied for the separation of Qld from NSW; the homestead builders, John Donald McLean, also a politician and Colonial Treasurer in 1866 and William Beit, who was a founding committee member of the Darling Downs Agricultural Society.