‘Butleigh’ was established by Samuel Morris junior, a Welshman who migrated with his parents, Samuel and Ann Morris in 1853 and purchased the land from the Crown.

A small house was built comprising two parts, a timber wing and a bluestone wing with a gracious verandah accessed by French doors which faced the extensive view to the west. Samuel Morris junior married Catherine McGill of Geelong in 1871 and they had two daughters, Edith and Olive.

Samuel died in 1911. ‘Butleigh’ passed on to the neighbouring Morgan family. William Morgan and his wife Elizabeth ran a mixed farm and a horse stud at ‘Butleigh.’ The property remained with the Morgan family until the end of the twentieth century.