Balmoral was built by Donald Borrie, one of the earlier European settlers in the Outram area. Borrie arrived in Dunedin in 1852 from Dunkeld in Scotland. He built a sod hut near the ford over the Taieri River. The ford was well known to both Maori and Europeans in the area. Borrie was the first ferryman, officially appointed to that post in 1857. It was in that year that the first portion of Balmoral (the section with the twin dormer windows) was built facing the river. When the gold rushes began in the early 1860s a small settlement sprung up around the ferry crossing. The township survived severe floods in 1868, and 1877, which Balmoral survived. Donald Borrie died at age 73, a noted property owner in the area. After his death the house was leased in 1891 to James and Janet Cullen. James Cullen was born in Glasgow, coming to Otago in 1845, working in a store, before taking up a farm on the East Taieri. In 1890 he purchased a farm on West Taieri. He was a member of the East Taieri Road Board, and a Deacon of the East Taieri Presbyterian Church. Cullen was another Taieri settler, who at 73 retired from his East Taieri property Owhiro, and continued to farm on a smaller scale. Janet Cullen died in March 1902. After James' death in April 1905, the farm at Balmoral was leased out. From 1905 to 1940 Balmoral was leased to David Wylie and family, and after that to his son Graham. In the period from 1914 to 1925 Balmoral was renowned for its farm holidays, with its attractive garden, good food and peaceful surroundings. In 1934 the land was still owned by Eliza Borrie. After Eliza Borrie's death in 1941, the property was sold (OT264/163), marking the end of an association with the Borrie family of nearly ninety years. Market gardener Frank Ferguson took over the property in the 1946 (OT321/43). In 1976 the land around the house, which included market gardens, was subdivided in order to sell the property separately. On Frank Ferguson's death the property was transferred to Neville Ferguson, the current owner. In 1988 the property was shifted twenty metres to new foundations, and rotated ninety degrees to catch the sun. The house was the homestead for the Balmoral Market Gardens.