The three Firth brothers, James, William and John were pioneers in three parishes near Somerville, Victoria, namely Tyabb, Moorooduc and Bittern. As Balnarring parish was part of the Shire of Flinders, much detail was given about the family in "Lime Land Leisure", a history of the shire.

The family legend states that William Firth first saw young Ann Scott while he was looking for water and was so captivated by her beauty that he vowed to marry her one day. The wedding took place on 7-6-1882, when William was 45 and Ann was 22. Ann had been the first white child born at Somerville.

William established "Orkney Farm" at the east corner of Coolart and Eramosa Rds, just west of Henry Gomm's Glenhoya and north of Alexander Scott's grant on the east corner of Webb's Lane. One of William's daughters, Jean, married William Herbert (Paddy) Gomm and the property eventually passed into the hands of the Gomm family.

In 1923, newspapers around Australia reported the tragic death of Mrs James Firth, who at that time was living with her son, Andrew, a farmer of Somerville. On her way home, possibly from the races at Mornington, she was driving "at a moderate pace" and about to cross the railway crossing on Moorooduc Road before turning right into Eramosa Rd, when she saw a special race train. Panicking, she crawled into the back of the car and then jumped out- right into the path of the train. The car escaped practically unscathed apart from frontal bruises from a fence which stopped its progress.

John Firth and John Ricketts were the Executors of Andrew McLellan, another pioneer in the Moorooduc area.(Argus 26-4-1878.)Four years earlier, James Firth and his brother, as well as neighbours near Tuerong Station, such as John and Agnes Wilson, and John McCusker, were called as witnesses in the case of the "Schnapper Point Murder".