George Sydenham was appointed as Colac Shire Valuer and rate collector in 1890 which threw him into direct contact with the Otway people at a time when the first selectors were suffering badly. He would have heard their frustrations and grievances in great detail. When Secretary to the Colac Committee for the Railway Extension to Beech Forest he used his magic lantern slide shows from 1896 to support his case for a railway, by lauding the place and its potential, both for settlement and for timber production.