A old portrait photograph of Longwarry district pioneer William Proctor.
More commonly known as Bill, he played a major role in opening up land around Labertouche.
Bill Proctor was born in Kyneton around 1868 and married Jean Smith, who was also from Kyneton, in 1889.

It is difficult to know exactly when Bill moved his family to the district. However, they were at Longwarry by 1896 where the birth of James, one of their 10 children, was registered.
By then, or soon after, Bill had taken up a selection of land fronting the Bunyip River for farming. However, like so many land lease holders, it had to be cleared which was extremely hard work.
Needing a source of income, Bill and son-in-law Dick Pearce took up mill work and were employed by local John Freeman as tramline layers and repairers by 1905.
By 1916, Bill and Dick set up their own milling business on the Proctor property after purchasing equipment from Freeman. Bill continued clearing his own land as well as that of other lease holders, paying one shilling royalty (10 cents today) for each tree taken out.
They also operated their own small tramline to link up with Freeman's line into Longwarry.
His son James enlisted in the army in February 1916 and was wounded during battles on the Somme later that year. After the war, James returned to work with his father and uncle at the mill.
In 1920, they purchased a sawmill plant from a Lang Lang mill and moved it to a new site at the junction of Black Snake Creek and the Bunyip River.
By 1923, Bill sold out of his sawmill interests, now his land was substantially cleared, to concentrate on farming. Dick continued in the timber industry.
Bill also took an active role in organisations within the township of Longwarry. Most notably, he was one of the inaugural committee members of the Longwarry Soldiers' Memorial League in 1917 and was elected senior vice president in 1918.
The league was established to provide welcome home receptions for soldiers and raise funds to build the memorial that stands today.
William "Bill" Proctor died in 1963 and is buried in the Drouin Cemetery. Many of his descendants live in the district today and several proudly carry the name.
Photograph courtesy of Lindsey Laurie. Information courtesy of Longwarry and District History Group with acknowledgement of the work of Mike McCarthy in "Settlers and Sawmillers".
The Longwarry and District History Group focuses on history of the 3816 postcode, including Longwarry, Labertouche and Modella.
For further information, visit longwarryhistory.org.au.