In 1848, Gippsland was mainly entered by the sea, and its chief place of commerce and immigration was Port Albert.

Having received his commission from Bishop Charles Perry, Rev. Willoughby Bean embarked on 13th November in a small bark called the "Colina." He says:

"We left Williamstown for Gippsland at half-past eight p.m. My fellow passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Macleod and three daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, Miss Bald (or Bold) the governess, and three children; Mrs. Newton and seven children; and Captain Taylor was in command. There were 21 souls aboard, and we were pressed into a space less than my family and I occupied on the "Stag" on the voyage from England. After a dreadfully uncomfortable night, spent partly on deck and partly in a close confined cabin, offensive from the smell of bilge water, I awoke at 5 a.m. and found that we had cleared the heads of Port Phillip, and were running with a fair wind along the coast for Cape Schank. As we approached the headland with the ranges about Arthur's Seat to the north-west, we could plainly see the wreck of the brig "Elizabeth.""

"Next morning, awakened after a sad night, spent partly on deck and partly in the cabin, and found that we were driving before a terrific gale with such a thick mist and gusty rain that we could scarcely see from end to end of the vessel. All the passengers but myself in a sad condition of seasickness and distress. The hatches being insecure, consequently the rain poured down on the poor children, so I told Mrs. Newton to place them in my cabin which was watertight. After a dreadful experience of storm, which lasted for nine days, when the anchors were lost and the vessel was almost wrecked when off Port Albert, the Customs House boat put out from Port Albert (five miles distant) and after a perilous pull, the passengers were landed at Port Albert."

The Rev. Willoughby Bean was the guest of Mr. John Campbell, of Glencoe, on Wednesday, 13th December, 1848. After conducting a short service at which Mrs. Campbell (Mr. Campbell's mother) the two Misses Campbell and Mr. Macleod were present, Mr. Bean left the station in order to make his way to Mr. Montgomery's at The Heart.

"We had," says Mr. Bean, "now to cross the natural boundary of upper and lower Gippsland - a large morass under water, about a mile and a half broad in a direct line, but fully three miles as we had to travel across it. Mr. Campbell was our guide, yet I managed to get my horse into a hole, and had to get off and wade some 300 yards. Swam our horses across the Glengarry and Latrobe Rivers, and reached Mr. Fitchett's Woolpack Inn, Flooding Creek (Sale). Here we found many gentlemen as it was court day. Rode in company with Mr. Montgomery to his home, Messrs. Lovell and Mason were also with us. Leaving the Heart, on our way to Mr. McMillan's, called and took some refreshment at Mr. Cunninghame's house at Clydebank. (The day was oppressively hot). Called at Stratford-on-Avon to see Mr. W. O. Raymond, with whom I arranged to return on Saturday and baptise some children and hold a short service, as I had fixed to hold service on Sunday at Flooding Creek and Boisdale." "Reached Angus McMillan's quite knocked up by the heat. Found my friend, Mr. Macalister's, station called Boisdale, on the opposite side of the River Avon, a beautiful stream of clear water, said to be always running over a pebbly bottom, like a Scotch burn or an English brook. This, Mr. Macleod states, is the site for a town, church, school, and parsonage, as it is the most central spot in the upper district, which must necessarily be separated from the lower - the morass forming an almost impassible barrier during a considerable portion of the year."

"And as to Flooding Creek, it is too near the morass to be healthy, and I think probably the water is bad, being only procurable from the swamp, in the dirty pools in the creek, or else at some two miles distant. If, however, the Government and the inhabitants would expend some £3000 on a causeway across the swamp and road from Stewart's to Fitchett's, and establish proper licensed punts on the Latrobe and Thomson Rivers, convenient to Flooding Creek township, its situation as a central point of the whole district would be indisputable."