William Adeney was one of Australia's early pioneers, settling in the Western District in Victoria. Being a learned man, William wrote a number of diaries and letters, which are referenced by Historians today; and he undertook an active role in civic affairs within his local district.

William Adeney was the eldest son of William Adeney and Mary Swaine, tailor of 16 Sackville Street, London. He decided to leave the family business and go to Australia to start farming. He wrote: "You know well that I have always entertained a dislike to the business of Tailoring which was, as it were, forced upon me by what I now consider to have been a false idea of filial duty, but I am now determined to make a bold stroke and launch out into a far different path from that in which I have hitherto trod".

William sets off for Australia in the sailing ship "Jane Jan" for Hobart Town, Van Dieman's Land on the 20th August, 1842. He writes in his diary, "As I laid myself along in my narrow resting place, I felt that the time has now come when I was to begin to act independently and play the man in the midst of strangers in a strange land still a great consolation and encouragement".

In 1843 William Adeney purchased a property two miles north of the present town of Camperdown in the western district of Victoria.

By 1851 this run, he named "Chocolyn" was 5948 acres in size. The name "Chocolyn" is considered to have been derived from the local aboriginal word "Chukkaelang" meaning feast, possibly due to the abundance of fish and food about Lake Cologulac.

William Adeney was one of the earliest settlers in Camperdown, or as it was known the Timboon area. He was appointed a JP in 1856 and heard offences in the Camperdown Police Court until 1870.

He was the president of the Camperdown Cricket Club from 1869 - 1886. Being an active supporter of agricultural development he was a subscriber to the Heytesbury and Hampden Agricultural Pastoral Society. He had strong views on Education and was appointed to the Board of National School at Timboon in 1855.

By 1873 he had married Emily Day and moved and lived in Sackville Street, Kew in Melbourne.

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