Richard Sutton came from a world far removed from the volcanic plains of western Victoria. Born in 1824 at Woodhead Farm near Scaleby, Carlisle, England, he was the fourth son in a large family of eight children. His father, Robert Sutton Esq, was an older man of standing, and his comfortable childhood shaped Richard into an articulate and thoughtful man.
Around 1850, Richard arrived in the young colony of Victoria and settled in the Colac district, where he would spend the rest of his life. He worked many roles — poundkeeper, agriculturalist, labourer and later carpenter — but he was never merely a quiet worker. He became known as a strong public voice in Pirron Yallock, writing boldly to local newspapers, challenging powerful landowners and criticising council decisions he believed unfair.
At thirty-eight, Richard married Sarah Ann Gibson, a young domestic servant from Essex. Together they raised eight children through hard years of illness, work and rural struggle. Their small weatherboard home and three cows were modest possessions, but they built a respected place in the community.
In May 1882, while working in Colac building a house, Richard collapsed and died suddenly from heart disease aged fifty-seven. He left Sarah a widow with eight children aged from one to seventeen years. His obituary remembered him as “esteemed by a large circle of friends.”
Sarah lived for another fifty-five years, becoming a much-loved community figure in her own right. In Colac she named her Pollack Street home “Woodhead” after Richard’s family farm — a quiet tribute to the man she never forgot. Though she spent far more of her life without Richard than with him, when Sarah died at the age of ninety-seven, she chose to be buried beside him here in Colac Cemetery.

Research by Merrill O’Donnell
Story by Merrill O'Donnell

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