Michael Hindmarsh (a Hawkesbury Agricultural College (HAC) student from 1961 to 1963) provided these photographs and other items. Michael was the third generation from his family to attend the College. The photographs and other items relate mostly to Michael's grandfather Charles Thomas Hindmarsh (HAC student 1903-1904) and his father Charles Alfred Hindmarsh (HAC student 1935-1937).

The collection also includes a book published in 1945 relating to Michael's earliest Australian ancestor also named Michael Hindmarsh. Michael Hindmarsh was born on 12 Mar 1800, the sixth child of George Hindmarsh, of Alnwick, Northumberland, England. At the age of 22 he left England on 1 May 1822 on the Minerva and arrived at Hobart Town on 18 October 1822. Michael moved to New South Wales and worked for a time for Jonathan Hassall at Matavie Farm at the junction of Cobbity Creek and the Nepean River. On 15 Aug 1826 Michael married Cecilia Sophia Rutter (a former teacher at the Female Orphan School at Parramatta). Michael was granted 640 acres of land in what is now known as Gerringong in 1827 (Michael was one of the early settlers of the Illawarra region). In the period 1848-1851 the Hindmarsh family built a permanent house at their property in Gerringong which they named Alne Bank. The house still stands and is still owned by the Hindmarsh family, direct descendants of Michael and Cecilia. Michael died at Alne Bank on 25 Jan 1867 and is buried in the family cemetery there.

This collection not only provides a unique insight into three generations of Hawkesbury Agricultural College (HAC) students from the same family but documents one of the oldest remaining families of the Illawarra region.