Lindesay is an 1834-6 house built for the then colony's Treasurer, Mr Campbell Drummond Riddell (b.1796 - a young and well-connected Scotsman) and his wife Caroline (née Stuart Rodney, b.1814 in Ceylon, the 16-year-old daughter of the Government Secretary in Colombo) on a site of 17 acres of land with stables, outbuildings and garden sweeping down to the harbour.