 In 1859, Dr John Ferguson purchased the Houghton property for the sum of 350 pounds and in that same year produced the first commercial vintage of wine from the vineyard a total of .Moondyne Joe, Western Australia's most famous bushranger, was captured on the Houghton property in the act of stealing wine from the cellars on 25 February 1869.By chance, the owner, Charles William Ferguson had been helping with a police search, and afterwards invited a group of police back to the vineyard for refreshments.