David Learmonth was born on  2 March 1882 on the Orkney Island of Stronsay. He was the youngest child of John Learmonth and Ann Davidson Learmonth nee Cooper.  David’s maternal grandmother was Barbara Miller, sister of Peter Miller who had emigrated to South Australia with his wife Janet and family in 1852.

David’s father John Learmonth owned Housebay farm on Stronsay and in 1890 moved to a property near Kirkwall on the Orkney Island of Mainland where David completed his schooling.  David then did a four year apprenticeship in “The Orcadian” Office. When he was nineteen he went to Edinburgh and later to London and worked in book stalls at the railway stations.

In 1909 David  emigrated to Australia to stay with his uncle,  John Maxwell,  on his property Mainhead Park at South Rhine.  His mother’s sister, Margaret  married John Maxwell and they had arrived in South Australia in 1866.  At South Rhine, David  was introduced to a completely different type of farming to that in the Orkneys.

On 17 April 1912 he married his cousin, Margaret Ann Maxwell, youngest daughter of John and Margaret Maxwell. David and Margaret settled on their first farm at Sanderston.   In 1914 their only child, a daughter, Ann Maxwell Learmonth was born. David owned four farms over his life,  Mainhead Park (Section 445 of South Rhine) which he bought from his father-in-law,  as well as two on the Flats at Sanderston and one at Birdwood.  David  retained his love of Orkney and named his farms Glen Orkney or Stronsay.   Margaret died on 13 December 1940 and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.

Their daughter Ann  married Joseph (Joe) Edward Buckley on 25 November 1944 at Prospect. Joe Buckley died on 14 May 1966 and Ann on 28 May 2005 and they are both buried in the Williamstown cemetery.

David remarried in 1946. His second wife was  Louise Mary Joyce (known as Mary).    During the next 32 years he worked his farm at Birdwood and became keenly interested in sheep dog trials.  He had border collies, some with a little kelpie blood in them. On two occasions he won the South Australian Championship with his dogs, Queen and Topsy.  David was involved in the South Rhine Church where he was a Sunday School   teacher,  an Elder of the church and  a member of the church choir.

David died on 24 May 1978 and is buried in the South Rhine cemetery.