Section 1043 was granted to Frederick Ransford on 17 September 1844. The property changed hands several times and then in 1867 was bought by Scotsman Robert McIndoe Robertson. In 1855 Robertson had married Mrs Anne Wise, the widow of John Wise, the owner of Tunkalilla station and they had lived at and managed Tunkalilla, but they later moved to this section.

Before Robertson bought the land there was already a house on it, which had been occupied by the previous owner and then rented out for some years. Robertson, however, built a new house, which he called Appakaldree. This new house was a substantial two-storey stone dwelling of nine rooms with a commanding frontage. It was built over a period of three years by local mason William Taverner (with Robertson and his sons assisting) and was completed about 1878.