Mrs Herbert, a retired farmer who now lives in Wanaka with her husband Peter, is the convener of a family reunion in Gore in October to celebrate the anniversary of Alexander and Elizabeth (nee Allan) Steel's arrival in Dunedin on the ship Strathfieldsaye on April 29, 1858.
The Falkirk farm labourers were incorrectly listed as "Sharp" in the ship's records.
They brought their five young children with them - Alexander, James, Euphemia (who later married James Duncan), Margaret (who married Thomas Jenkins) and Ann (who married William Mollison) - and eventually became grandparents of 50 New Zealand-born children.
The five branches of the family settled in Invercargill and the Tapanui district, where they built homes, founded businesses and established farms in the virgin bush.
Now, descendants are scattered far and wide.
At least 130 are expected to descend on Gore's Croydon Lodge on October 10-12 for a weekend of Scottish-themed festivities.
The history of 550 related families is being collated by another descendent, Allan Steel, who lives at Waikouaiti.
His meticulous research over many years has uncovered valuable information about the life and times of the family and will be published in a massive book containing up to 400 photographs later this year.
Allan Steel's research uncovered an article by former journalist Herries Beattie, who wrote for The Ensign in Gore in the early 1900s and documented an extensive interview he had at Tapanui in 1928 with Alexander and Elizabeth Steel's second son, James Steel (James Steel was Mrs Herbert's grandfather).
In the article, Mr Beattie describes the young Scottish farm labourer's vision to escape the narrow confines of his work and station and come to the wide unoccupied spaces of New Zealand.
James was just 12 when he and his parents and four siblings embarked on their three-month voyage from Glasgow to Dunedin by sailing ship.
Diaries of passengers aboard the Strathfieldsaye held at the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin reveal much of the passengers' ordeal.
Several passengers, including children and babies, died but all the Steels survived the trip.
Later, James Steel and his older brother Alexander embarked on a long, barefoot journey around Southland, seeking work.
His mother, Elizabeth, also proved her pioneering spirit by completing long journeys on foot.
She was famous in later years for refusing a guard's offer to jump on a train one rainy day because she was "in a hurry" to get from her Waikiwi home to Invercargill.
The refusal was not as silly as it seemed.
The train could not operate on muddy tracks during wet weather and her husband had once beaten the train by two and a-half hours on a wet day.
Mrs Herbert said the family history was "an amazing story" and it was remarkable to consider what young people achieved in circumstances that are now difficult to imagine.
"I am a Steel from Tapanui. My father George was one of the 50. He was a long liver, Steel by name and steel by nature. All were long livers but he lived until he was 93," Mrs Herbert said.
The reunion was a first for the Steels and would be a chance to gather more stories and photographs and retrace the family's first journey to Otapiri, Mrs Herbert said.
"The sad thing is we didn't have a reunion at 100 years. But it is probably for our generation that it is more fascinating, as time has gone by . . . and I think you are leaving a legacy for your children and grandchildren if you can document it all," she said.
Steel descendants can contact Mrs Herbert for more information on (03) 443 4480.
Allan Steel can be contacted on asteel@ihug.co.nz
