Robert Rowland Leake and his brother Edward John Leake (1812–1867) emigrated with their parents John and Elizabeth Leake to
Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) in 1823 with the first flock of
Saxon Merino sheep to be brought to the Southern Hemisphere. He was appointed by the South Australia Company to oversee in 1836 the flock they were importing into their new colony. Robert and his brothers settled in the
South-East of South Australia as squatters and eventually Robert became owner of the
Glencoe estate. They founded Inverary station on the shores of
Lake Leake, an extinct volcano.
Adam Lindsay Gordon was once employed there as a horse-breaker. Robert served as the first member of the
House of Assembly for the single-person electorate of
Victoria from February 1857. He resigned in December 1857. On the death of Robert, his brother Edward inherited Glencoe Station of , carrying 53,000 sheep, 3,500 cattle and 300 horses. He was responsible for building a magnificent new woolshed designed by W. T. Gore and accommodating 36 shearers on the board, it is now National Trust. Letitia Leake sold the station to
John Riddoch and
George Riddoch, who later divided the property between themselves. John took the southern end and in 1898 broke it up for closer settlement; George's named his portion "Koorine". ==Family==