George & William Renshaw were Irishmen who had come to the Whitehaven area with their parents as children. Whitehaven was an iron ore mining district of West Cumberland, now known as Cumbria. George Renshaw had married Sarah Jackson, who was the daughter of Thomas Jackson, who was a blacksmith in the village of Gosforth. Sarah Jackson was friends with Jane Levens who later married Jacob Crow. William Renshaw was a single man.

No record in the New Zealand directory of any Renshaws living in Bannockburn.

A relation of George and William had emigrated to Central Otago some time earlier. They received a letter from Bannockburn explaining that "gold could be picked up from under the tussock". Because of the letter, and the extremely low wages in Cumberland, the Renshaws and Jacob Crow decided to emigrate to Bannockburn. They sailed from London on the ship 'Forfarshire'. George Renshaw's wife and their two small boys stayed behind in Cumbria.

On 3 Oct 1879, after a voyage of 106 days, the 'Forfarshire' arrived at Port Chalmers. There had been diphtheria on board and the steerage passengers spent some time on quarantine island. The cabin passengers stayed on the ship.

The Renshaws made their way to Bannockburn where they gained employment on Kawarau Station as shepherds. The Renshaw brothers may have built or lived in a existing dwelling at Shepherds Creek, on the right bank, some distance below the Kawarau Station Homestead.

Mrs Sarah Renshaw and Mrs Jane Crow along with their families sailed on the same ship from London to port Chalmers. They arrived in Dunedin some time in December. George Renshaw travelled to Dunedin to meet his wife and family, returning with them to Bannockburn in a spring cart.

Wiliam & Mary Parcell of Halfway House were very kind to Mrs Jane Crow when she arrived in Bannockburn before moving to Duffers Gully. Mrs Parcell gave Mrs Crow a cup of tea and a stone hot water bottle as a welcoming gift for her new neighbour. On 30 May, Halfway House accidentally burnt down. The Renshaws and the Crows would have been keen to help, as well as James Cowan of Kawarau Station.