The Colston family from Edinburgh, Scotland arrived in Sydney, Australia on 29 January 1853. They were on board the 'Tamar' which sailed from Plymouth, England on 12 October 1852.

After the death of his first wife, Jemima, James Forsyth Colston married for a second time on 1 July 1852 in London to Margaret McPhail. Margaret was born in Scotland, but her mother was living in London at the time of their marriage.

When they left England, James was aged 39 years and with him were his wife, Margaret 48 years and surviving children from his first marriage, daughter Eliza 18 years and son William 13 years.

Eliza stayed in Sydney and worked as a house servant to Major Lockyer. When the Major's second wife died, he married Eliza. James settled in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. He and William were stonemasons and travelled about the country building bridges. They worked in the Goulburn district, and at one stage were in Beechworth, Victoria.

James died in Wagga Wagga in 1869. It is not known what became of his wife Margaret. William married and settled in Barnawartha, Victoria. He continued to work as a stonemason. He did the facings on the Albury railway station and built at least one stone house, 'Innisfaile'. This house burned in a bushfire in about 1950, and the stones were removed, so nothing remains of it anymore.