Hugh Cameron was the Scottish settler who was responsible for the name 'Scone' being adopted for the nearby township after he petitioned the Surveyor General, Thomas Mitchell.

Cameron had been granted 1280 acres of land by Governor Darling on 18 October 1828.  His station at Kingdon Ponds was robbed in 1831 by bushrangers Bowen, Duffy, Finney and Mason and Hugh Cameron was a witness at their trial. He stated that knew John Mason and Hugh Duffy who absconded from the service  of Mr. Dangar. The bushrangers were apprehended by Sgt. Quigley of the mounted police. They had with them a few farming implements, seed and provisions and hoped to go far into the bush to settle. Mason and Duffy along with Edward Bowen and Patrick Finney were found guilty of robbing Cameron and were sentenced to death.

'St. Aubins'

However Sir Edward had met Mr. Sempill previously. It was a chance meeting in Sydney in January 1831 that changed the future of the Australian Agricultural company (and its workers). Mr. Sempill on meeting  Sir Edward offered to sell on behalf of Mr. MacQueen, a threshing machine. In the course of the meeting he informed Sir Edward of excellent quality of land on the Liverpool Plains for sheep breeding. They went immediately to the Surveyor General's office to inspect maps which convinced Sir Edward to arrange for the exchange of the company's coastal land for land at Warrah and Goonoo Goonoo on the Liverpool Plains.

There were numerous assigned servants at Segenhoe in 1832 who may have been working on the estate when Sir Edward visited. Among servants assigned at Segenhoe in 1832 were: William Powell and John Taff who arrived on the 'Portland',  Henry Hall a glass cutter from Warwick and Dominick Herkins a soldier and labourer who had been convicted in Jamaica, both arrived on the Asia in 1832 and Charles Bevan carpenter and joiner who arrived on the Adrian in 1830

There was also a hospital on the estate, as in 1833 John McLeod Gillies was employed as a hospital assistant. John Porteus and Benjamin Lee were indented servants.   Benjamin Lee arrived on the Thames in 1829. He was sent by Macqueen from England to be assistant Superintendent at Segenhoe under orders of P. McIntyre, Macqueens agent. Although under employment contract, he waited many months for wages, eventually instigating court proceedings to recover funds owing to him. John Porteus (Portus) was a millwright and arrived on the Hugh Crawford in 1825. He became well known throughout the district and constructed a steam mill in 1840 known as Morpeth Wheat Mills.

Thomas Potter Macqueen was born at Segenhoe Manor, Ridgmont, Bedfordshire in 1791 to Malcolm and Marianne (Potter) Macqueen. After reading the Bigge report with interest, Macqueen evolved a plan to develop the colony with settlers with sufficient capital to employ convicts on their own account.

He was granted 10,000 acres of land by Governor Brisbane in 1825 and appointed Peter McIntyre as his Manager. McIntyre selected mechanics, farmers and shepherds and equipped with farm machinery, stores, sheep, horses and stud cattle sailed for New South Wales on the ships Nimrod and Hugh Crawford. Once in New South Wales, McIntyre selected this land near Scone which was named Segenhoe. The indented servants and assigned servants then began clearing and establishing buildings and gardens.

However, Macqueen was apparently dissatisfied with McIntyre's work as his manager and he had replaced McIntyre with Hamilton Collins Sempill by 1830. H.C. Sempill's wife Susannah who greeted Sir Edward Parry on his arrival at Segenhoe in March 1832 was a sister of John Dow who in later was employed as a superintendent at Sempill's 'Belltrees'. Her sister with her at Segenhoe that day was Agnes Dow who later married James Busby.

Hamilton Collins Sempill and his family occupied the main homestead at Segenhoe until 1834 when Macqueen decided to come to Australia. The Sempills were then forced to find other accommodation, first living in a smaller unsatisfactory building and then later building a permanent home at  Belltrees.  Sempill had acquired much land on his own behalf since his arrival - Ardenhall, Huntingdon and Aberfoyle among them and also the beautiful 'Belltrees.' Later Sempill was to run into financial difficulties in the 'hungry forties'. He sold his properties and returned to Scotland where he remained. 30

In 1833, MacQueen's wife Anne Astley had passed away and by 1834 Macqueen sold his English estate to the Duke of Bedford and journeyed to New south Wales himself.  He arrived in Hobart on the 'Bardaster' in June 1834 and travelled to Segenhoe where we was appointed Magistrate for the district by July of that year. He became known for his extravagance at the estate. A town house was also purchased at Darlinghurst, Sydney and in 1835 Macqueen attended a levee at Government House, Sydney to celebrate the King's birthday.

Thomas Potter Macqueen died in 1854.