John and Mary Sheehan and their two young children were among those Irish immigrants who arrived on the 'South Sea' in 1855 and came down to Yankalilla. By 1857 there were living here in a hut, renting it from J.W.Heathcote. John Sheehan was a roadman, working on the roads for the District Council.

The stone house was probably built about 1860 and in 1867 Sheehan bought the land from Heathcote. John and Mary had a total five children, but only two outlived them. John and Mary lived here until their deaths in 1898 and 1901. After Mary's death their son Michael Sheehan lived in the house until he sold it in 1908 to James Joseph Kelly.

James Kelly was the son of William Kelly and Margaret nee Dahill. The Kelly and the Dahill families, like the Sheehan family, were Irish immigrants. Kelly came out in 1857 on the 'Omega', and Margaret Dahill came out with her parents in 1855 on the 'South Sea'.