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The Australian Dictionary of Biography summarises the early period in the Werribee career of the Chirnside family:
"CHIRNSIDE, THOMAS (1815-1887), and ANDREW SPENCER (1818-1890), pastoralists, were born in Berwickshire, Scotland, sons of Robert Chirnside, farmer, and his wife Mary, nee Fairs. Thomas sailed from Liverpool in the Bardaster, arrived at Adelaide in January 1839 and went on to Sydney in March.
By April he had bought sheep on the Murrumbidgee, but because of the drought he left them there and went on to Melbourne where he joined his brother Andrew who had arrived later in 1839. Together they went north, bought cattle and overlanded them to Adelaide.
By way of Hobart Town they returned to Sydney, found the country improved by rain and took their sheep to the port Phillip District. By May 1840 they had reached the Loddon and taken up a run, which they sold early in 1842, and in April established a station at Mount William in the Grampians. Later that year Thomas acquired a station on the Wannon and was the first in that district to employ Aboriginals as station hands.
In 1843 the brothers bought Mokanger station and during the next few years acquired a chain of runs in the Western District including Victoria lagoon in the Grampians, Kenilworth South, Wardy Yalllock, Curnong and Carranballac.
In 1846 they formed a station under occupation licence forty miles east of Guichen Bay, South Australia, but the venture was not successful. Just before the gold rushes the brothers began acquiring land at Wyndham (Werribee). There Thomas settled, building a bluestone mansion and gaining a freehold of 80,000 acres in the 1850's. Andrew made his base on 50,000 acres at Carranballac, near Skipton; he also owned the 38,900 acre Mount Elephant station and 23,800 acres of Koort-Koortnong, near Camperdown. In the 1870's he and his family moved to Wyndham to live with Thomas."
On 2 September 1853 Thomas Chirnside of Werribee Park purchased, through Crown Grant Allotment B, Section Fourteen, Parish of Cut Paw Paw, County of Burke. The size of the Allotment was 89 acres and he paid £1,201 and 10 Shillings ($3,124). The boundaries of the Allotment were Geelong Road to the North, Somerville Road to the South, Williamstown Road to the East and Wales Street to the West. The only street not to exist at the time was Wales Street, which was located next to Allotment Four, Section Thirteen.
THE CHIRNSIDE YEARS The map shows what is now the new suburb of Kingsville, which came into being in 1999. The land East of Wales Street became the Kingsville Estate.
On 25 October 1874, Thomas Chirnside sold 431 parcels of land to his brother Andrew. The sale was not recorded in the Office of the Registrar General during 1874. This sale was recorded in Memorial No 4 Book 270. An application was made to convert General (Old) Law to Torrens Title in 1884, but the Title was not registered till August 1886. This Certificate of Title was given the number Volume 1817 Folio 263337.
To date no evidence has been found as to how the Chirnside brothers used the land. It could have been used to grow crops or for grazing purposes. Andrew Chirnside lease the land to Edward Cahill who ran the nearby Rising Sun Hotel between 1884 and 1888. In January 1888, Edward Cahill ran a series of adverts in the local papers, offering the land for grazing.
During the period of time that the Chirnside's owned the land it came under the control of the then Wyndham Shire Council. In the early 1870's there were many complaints about the level of maintenance of Geelong Road by Footscray Council. People who lived in the Werribee area used the road to convey their goods into the City of Melbourne complained about the condition of the road and the tolls at the Footscray entrance and exit to the City. Footscray Council, which held its first meeting in July 1859, agreed that part of its territory South of the railway line, West to Footscray Cemetery and West of Harrison's (later Williamstown) Road should come under the administration of the Shire.
The Shire of Wyndham would take the rates from this area and use them to maintain the Geelong Road. This agreement which was reached in January 1871, stated that Footscray could reclaim its Western area when Footscray Council was in a position to repay the costs incurred by the Shire of Wyndham in maintaining the road. It was not until November 1921 that the land returned to Footscray. The first election held in the new West ward of Footscray took place on 16 February 1922.
Andrew Chirnside sold the land on 23 December 1887 through a series of deals involving four individuals the last of whom was John Samuel Sims Sundercombe a boot importer who lived at High Street, St Kilda. This transfer was numbered 204098. The agreement included a number of buyers and sellers and three of the transfers were not recorded on the Certificate of Title.
Andrew Chirnside sold the land to James Palmer of Nicholson Street, South Yarra whose occupation was given as Civil Engineer for £19,580 ($50,908).
The transfer of the land also took into consideration the sum of £26,700 ($69,420) paid to James Palmer by John Parks of Nicholson Street, Footscray who was a draper and Joseph T Berlowitz of Buckley Street, Footscray a estate agent.
The transfer also involved the sum of £32,930 ($85,618) paid to John Parks and Joseph T Berlowitz by John Samuel Sims Sundercombe was the sole owner of the land. Berlowitz and Parks went on to hold 500 shares each in the Queensville Land & Investment Company, but by October 1888 they had parted with them.
John Samuel Sims Sundercombe held the land for less than three months before he sold it on 26 March 1888 to the Queensville Land & Investment Company Limited for £45,000 ($117,000). Sundercombe became a director of the company and a shareholder. His father and wife also held shares, but by August 1889 all three members of the Sundercombe family had parted their shares.
Thomas Chirnside who had obtained the land in 1853 for £1,201($3,123) committed suicide during 1887. He was found dead in the laundry at Werribee Park with a shotgun lying beside him. Andrew Chirnside died in April 1890. With the sale to John Samuel Sims Sundercombe the land changed from being a paddock to the subdivision which is recognisable today. The only reminder of the former owners, the Chirnside brothers is the naming of Chirnside Street after them.
James, K.N. 1985, Werribee The First One Hundred Years, Werribee District Historical Society.
Ronald, Heather. 1978, Wool Past the Winning Post: A History of the Chirnside Family, Landvale Enterprises, Melbourne.