Thomas Neill had been in business as a grocer in Kilmarnock and before that he had been a farm servant. It was intended that he should work on the Warnock property but on arrival it was discovered that the dry climate required many more acres to support a family than it did in Scotland. Fortunately for him he was immediately given a job as storekeeper with the South Australian Company by the manager, his old friend David McLaren. Neill had relations in Glasgow, Paisley and Kilmarnock. The Neills attended the Scotch Baptist church, built in Hindley Street by the Methodists then abandoned for their new building in Gawler Place.