In 1876, brothers Alexander and James Adam purchased Murray Location 14 to breed cattle, sheep and horses for the horse export trade.
Five generations later, Ward Adam - a descendant of Alexander Adam - is still farming on this property, known as Ellengowan in Ravenswood.
Thinking it was about time to preserve the history for future generations to enjoy, Ward and Christine Adam worked alongside local historian Ronald Richards to turn letters passed down through the family into a book.
"Unfortunately as every generation passes you lose a little bit more history so it's about time we got it all together," Mr Adam said.
"If the history hadn't been done it would possibly have been lost forevermore.
"It's been three years of hard work and a lot of travelling for research but it was worth it in the end."
Rough journey to Australia
Scottish-born John Roy Adam left London on January 20, 1837, bound for the Swan River Colony.
The ship was caught in a terrible storm for ten days with all aboard believing the ship would sink and kill them all.
Another severe storm occurred near the Cape of Good Hope but John survived, arriving at the Swan River Colony in August where he completed his indenture under Major Frederick Irwin.
His luck unfortunately ran out in 1847 when a tree he was felling landed on him.
This was the end of the story for John but just the beginning for his family who made a substantial contribution to Pinjarra and still live in the region to this day.
Long history in Pinjarra
"In 1880, Alexander and his brother James were horse traders and they were taking 60 horses at a time to Bunbury to put on a ship," Mr Adam said.
"They were either for the army, cart horses, or race horses.
"Over the generations they bred some very good horses but unfortunately that finished in 1890 when steam engines started taking over."
The Adam family has been a big part of the Peel region's history over the years owning land in Halls Head, Madora Bay, Coolup, West Murray, Marradong and South Yunderup.
"It always intrigues me how they would get from one property to another. From here to Marradong it's a 45 minute drive but it probably took them a week," Mr Adam said.
"They used to tow a steam engine with horses but the steam engine didn't have enough power to get up Dwellingup Hill.
"They would put horses on to tow it up and put horses on the back to lower it down.
"When you read the letters it's quite amazing because one minute they are in Geraldton the next they are in Beverley or Marradong."
Letters unveil ancestry
As time goes by and every generation passes, family history like this often gets lost in the process.
But luckily for the Adam family they can trace their ancestry back to 1836 through letters and photos that were passed down from previous generations.
"We still have all the letters that were written back and forth to Scotland from 183 years ago," Mr Adam said.
"They're quite hard to read because some of them are criss-cross letters. Paper was scarce in the early days so four pages were written on one piece of paper.
"The letters are always hard to read but that's where you get all your information on what the family did over the years."
Lil Adam, Ward's mother, said they wouldn't have known all of this history if it wasn't for John's mother in Scotland educating her sons well.
"They wrote beautifully so Elizabeth Adam must've educated her three boys very well," she sad.
"The boys would write from Australia to Scotland all the time."
Mr Adam said the letters gave him a sense of his ancestor's personalities.
"Elizabeth Adam was a staunch Anglican and one of the letters to John said, 'you're not to marry a Catholic'," he said.
"Well I'm Catholic now so it's quite funny," Ms Adam laughed.
To read the full history of the Adam family of Pinjarra visit the Murray District Historical Society or call Lil Adam on 0408004335.