From Barley to Burrumbeep is a history of Leonard Clark and Sarah Bowtell, who arrived in Victoria in May 1854 from Barley, Hertfordshire, England, with seven children aged between 18 and two years. They sailed on the 'America', a vessel belonging to the Black Ball Line. They spent six months in the Geelong district, where another child was born into their family. In December 1854 they travelled to Burrumbeep station, settling in the Phillip's Flat district, in what is now Cathcart, west of Ararat, where three more children were born, making a total of 11 children, six daughters and five sons. The Clark family, and its many branches, including the Basham, Billett, Bobart, Phillips, Scherger, Shevlin, and Sylvester families, is one of a select number of 'pioneer' families associated with the township of Ararat from its beginnings in the 1850s.