35°49' S, 137°02' E

Roo Lagoon was first developed in the 1930s by Wally Williams. The original property extended along the Borda Highway from an area west of what would one day be Parndana to the Western Highway.

In 1936 a cottage (which still stands) was built, together with a small shed beside the first of three wells which were then used to water horses travelling from Kingscote to Cape Borda. This well has now been restored and can be visited at the Roo Lagoon woodturning Gallery.

It was not until 1940 that a guarantee from the Land Board enabled Williams to have the survey completed and a Freehold Title issued in his name. At this time the property was managed for him by Fred and Audrey Tugwell who lived in the cottage and had an extensive garden of vegetables and hollyhocks which grew as tall as a woman.

Fred Tugwell tanned skins to perfection and sold them to the then young R M Williams. He was also very skilled at plaiting leather , the designs either flat, round or square.

Years later Wally Williams told of the time he and Fred were inspecting the property when they spotted a large goanna at about 7 yards away. ‘Cripes' said Fred, ‘I must have that one.' He approached the animal very slowly, stooping lower and lower as he went. The goanna never moved. Eventually, when he was close enough, he reached out, lifted the tail, and then grabbed it firmly and swung it back through the air and then crashed it on the ground several times to kill it. 'It was,’ he said, ‘an amazing sight.’

Gradually acres were sold off and the current property is now roughly about 1000 acres and includes only Edwards Lagoon and not the original Roo Lagoon which is several miles further west.

In the 1980s, Edwards Lagoon (about 100 acres of reeds), which always dried out in the summer, was drained into the waters of the Cygnet River so it could be sown down to pasture for spring and summer feed.

It is considered unusual that there should be two lagoons in the highest part of the Island, about 850 feet above sea level.

The property is still full of shelter belts mainly of melaleuca and cup gums as well as the delicate spider orchid and there are yaccas about 14 feet high which means they are probably 1000 years old.