After more than half a century, painted portraits of early settlers Hugh and Catherine Millar have returned to Portland.
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The paintings were donated to Glenelg Shire Council's cultural collection by Hugh and Catherine's great-great-grandchildren, Jenni and Ross Knight.
The paintings first arrived in Portland in the early 1860s with the Millars, who were born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and married in 1842 before settling in the Gorbals near Glasgow.
In December 1852 the Millars and their five children set sail for Australia aboard the "Aberfoyle", arriving in early 1853.
For a time in the 1850s Hugh owned a warehouse in Swanston Street. By this time his sister Janet was married to Reverend Alex Browning and had settled in Portland.
It is unclear when the Millars moved to Portland, but it is known they lived in Percy Street in 1861-62 and Hugh worked as a draper.
Hugh died in 1895 and Catherine followed in 1906. They are both buried in unmarked graves in the Presbyterian section of the Portland South Cemetery.
The donors, Jenni and Ross Knight are descendants of Janet Millar, one of Hugh and Catherine's two Portland-born children.
The portraits have been passed down through the family, and prior to leaving Portland in the 1950s, hung in the home of Janet Millar Herbertson in Bridgewater Road.
It was Jenni and Ross' wish that the paintings return to Portland, where the Millars spent much of their lives and were laid to rest.
The portraits are being displayed in the Glenelg Shire Council's Portland Customer Service Centre.
