Dr George Imlay on his way to Australia in 1833 had stopped at St Helena and brought three weeping willow cuttings from Napoleon's grave site to Australia. From those cuttings, which he planted at Tarraganda, these willow spread throughout the district. 

For a while the Imlays prospered and by 1842 they had a man working for them as a dairyman, and Thomas Underhill worked for them as a blacksmith at Corridgeree. But drought and depression took their toll and by 1844 they were boiling down sheep on the flat for tallow at present day Eastwood.

On March 2, 1842, Thomas Underhill married at Broulee and rode overland with his bride to Corridgeree where he established the blacksmith's shop. 

A document in the Pioneers' Museum clearly shows that the officiating minister at the Underhill  wedding wrote down the address as Bega, and although this is probably a phonetic misinterpretation of what was said, ie Biggah, it remains the earliest known use of the name Bega.

The Imlay holdings in the 1840s were: Bega 20,000 acres – Dr George Imlay; Cobargo 6500 acres – Dr Peter Imlay; Murrah 1000 acres – Dr Peter Imlay; Double Creek 10,000  acres – Dr Peter Imlay; Kameruka 18,600 acres – Dr Alex Imlay; Tarraganda 6500 acres – Dr George Imlay; Burridgery (Corridgeree) 10,000 acres – Dr Alex Imlay.

The Imlays became financially stressed and finally the Walker Bros, bankers of Hobart Town, foreclosed on their stations, leaving them only Tarraganda from their former vast holdings.

Then on December 26, 1846, Dr George Imlay, who had been suffering unbearable pain  from strictures, suicided on the nearby mountain, which still bears his name.

An Aborigine found his body at a spot very near to the top of the mountain, close by the present road.

On March 31, 1847, Dr Alexander Imlay died, said to have been at Bunga. Both were buried at Tarraganda at the foot of a large granite boulder, thus beginning what is known as Tarraganda Cemetery.