CHAPTER 01 · 1821–1822

From Hobart to Sorell Springs

John Presnell at work as a blacksmith in Hobart Town, c. 1822. Interpretive reconstruction.

In January 1821, John Presnell arrived in Van Diemen’s Land aboard the Midas. A blacksmith by trade, he was already a married man with six children, beginning a new life far from England. Whether Eleanor and the children accompanied him remains uncertain. One possibility is that they followed later, travelling with John’s mother, Sarah Presnell, who arrived aboard the Regalia in December 1822. If so, John may have spent nearly two years establishing himself before his family joined him.

His trade would have been valuable in the growing colony, where horses, carts, farming equipment and everyday tools depended on the blacksmith’s skills. By October 1822, John had taken on another role. He was the licensee of the White Hart Inn at Sorell Springs, on the main road between Hobart and Port Dalrymple (Launceston). The inn offered John and Eleanor an opportunity to establish a home, raise their children and build a future in the Tasmanian Midlands.

CHAPTER 02 · 1822–1826

Sorell Springs — Building a Life in the Midlands

John Presnell’s February 1826 petition for an additional land grant. Tasmanian Archives, CSO1/79/1760, pp. 148–149.

By the middle of the 1820s, John Presnell had established himself at Sorell Springs, where the White Hart Inn stood beside the main road between Hobart and Launceston. The inn provided accommodation and refreshments for travellers, but John’s ambitions extended well beyond running a roadside business. He was also developing a substantial farming enterprise, raising livestock and cultivating the surrounding land.

In February 1826, John wrote to Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur seeking an additional grant of land. In his petition, he described arriving in the colony five years earlier with little more than his skills as a blacksmith. Through hard work, he had acquired approximately 300 sheep, more than 80 cattle and made considerable improvements to his property. Yet John was concerned that the land available to him was insufficient to support his growing family. He hoped that a further grant would provide greater security for Eleanor and their children. The petition offers a rare glimpse of John describing his own circumstances. He had achieved a great deal in a relatively short time, but he was still looking for opportunities to build a more secure future.

Bushrangers on the Road — A Presnell Encounter

CHAPTER 03 · 1826–1829

Currajong Bottom — A New Home, New Challenges

John Presnell’s new stone house at Currajong Bottom, where an October 1827 newspaper report described a violent encounter between Aboriginal Tasmanians and colonial officials. Interpretive reconstruction.

By 1826, John Presnell was looking beyond the White Hart Inn at Sorell Springs. He had built a substantial stone house at Currajong Bottom, about three and a half miles away, near the route of a proposed new road between Hobart and Launceston. The property represented another opportunity for John and Eleanor to establish a lasting home for their family. The house was associated with land jointly held by John and William Presnell, and contemporary notices referred to it as Presnell’s New Inn. Whether it ever opened to travellers remains uncertain, but John’s intentions were clearly tied to the changing road.

A Changing Road

The colonial government was improving the route through the Midlands, with road gangs cutting through difficult country and using stone gathered from nearby hills. For John, the new road presented both an opportunity and a problem. In December 1827, he petitioned Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur, explaining that changes to the road had left both his original inn at Sorell Springs and his newer house at Currajong Bottom poorly positioned to attract passing travellers. Having invested considerable effort and resources in establishing himself, John now faced the prospect of losing the passing trade on which his business depended.

Conflict at Currajong Bottom

The difficulties were not confined to roads and business. In October 1827, a newspaper correspondent reported a violent encounter involving Aboriginal Tasmanians near John’s new house at Currajong Bottom.

According to the account, District Constable Bennett and a visiting colonial officer were outside the house when they encountered a group of Aboriginal people. An attempt at conversation quickly turned violent. Spears were thrown, one striking the visiting officer’s arm, while Bennett was wounded in the back as he returned towards the house.

The report provides a glimpse of the growing conflict between European settlers and Aboriginal Tasmanians in the Midlands. As settlement expanded into Aboriginal country, disputes over land and resources contributed to increasingly violent encounters. We do not know whether John or Eleanor witnessed the incident, but it occurred close to the home they were trying to establish.

Financial Difficulties and Another Beginning

By 1829, John’s business relationship with William Presnell was under considerable pressure. In April, William advertised his share of their joint property and business interests for sale. Further newspaper notices advertised livestock and property associated with the White Hart for auction following legal proceedings. In September, the partnership between William and John was formally dissolved, with George William Robinson appointed to collect outstanding debts and settle accounts. The records do not reveal how John felt about these developments, but they mark a difficult period in his efforts to establish a secure livelihood.

Yet John was not finished. By October 1830, he was advertising another White Hart Inn, this time at Antill Ponds. After years of building, investing and adapting to the changing Midlands road, he was preparing to begin again.

CHAPTER 04 · 1830–1831

Antill Ponds — One Final Beginning

The Half Way House at Antill Ponds in later years, with John Presnell’s October 1830 advertisement announcing the opening of his new White Hart Inn.

After nearly a decade of building businesses and establishing homes in the Midlands, John Presnell was ready for another beginning. In October 1830, he announced that he had obtained a licence for a new White Hart Inn at Antill Ponds, on the road to Launceston. His advertisement promised comfortable accommodation, good wines and spirits, stabling and paddocks for travellers’ horses and livestock. It was a familiar undertaking for John, who had spent much of his time in Van Diemen’s Land combining innkeeping with farming. But this was also his third attempt to establish a lasting home and livelihood in the Midlands.

Despite the difficulties he had encountered, John had built up considerable property and livestock holdings. In March 1831, he reported holding 300 acres by grant and another 300 acres by purchase, with 105 acres cleared. His livestock included 900 sheep, 100 cattle and three horses. These were substantial achievements for a man who had arrived in the colony just ten years earlier with his skills as a blacksmith.

In March 1831, John applied for an additional grant of land from the White Hart Inn at Antill Ponds. He said the change in the road had cost him dearly, forcing him to pull down the house he had built and move it to Antill Ponds. By then he described a seven-room inn, a six-stall stable and a blacksmith’s shop. John died that May before he could appear before the Land Board. Eleanor kept the inn open and took up the application herself.

Sadly, John had little time to enjoy his latest undertaking. On 20 May 1831, he died at the White Hart Inn at Antill Ponds, aged approximately 45. His death notice recorded that he left a wife and five children. For Eleanor, John’s death meant the loss of her husband and the challenge of continuing the life they had worked to establish together. Later that year, she appeared in the licensing records in her own name, carrying on the White Hart Inn.

John’s journey through Van Diemen’s Land had ended, but the story of the White Hart — and the Presnell family’s connection to the Midlands — continued.

CHAPTER 05 · 2026

A View From My Beer — A Conversation with John Presnell

Sharing an imagined beer with my fourth great-grandfather John Presnell and his brothers William and Thomas at the White Hart Inn, Antill Ponds, c. 1830, with Eleanor and the children looking on. Interpretive reconstruction.

If I could travel back nearly two hundred years, I’d like to spend an afternoon at the White Hart Inn at Antill Ponds, sharing a beer with my fourth great-grandfather, John Presnell. I’d choose 1830, shortly after John had opened his latest inn. At around 44 years of age, he had already experienced more than his share of challenges in Van Diemen’s Land.

I’d introduce myself as his fourth great-grandson, born 130 years after his death. I wonder what he’d make of that. I’d hope Eleanor and the children might join us along with his brothers Thomas and William. After all, they had shared the uncertainties and upheavals of John’s journey.

I’d begin by asking about England.

What made you leave your homeland in 1821, John? Were you seeking opportunity, escaping difficulties, or simply hoping to provide a better future for your family?

What do you remember about bringing your family ashore in Hobart? What did you and Eleanor hope to find there?

Then I’d ask about Sorell Springs.

You arrived as a blacksmith, but within two years you were running the White Hart Inn and developing a farming enterprise. How did that opportunity come about? Did you ever imagine you’d become a publican and landowner?

I’d want to learn more about encounters with bushrangers and the types of travellers that frequented the inn.

Currajong Bottom would raise even more questions.

You built a substantial stone house and appeared ready to establish another inn. What were your plans for that property? How much did the changing road affect your ambitions?

And what happened between you and William Presnell? Was the dissolution of your partnership simply a business decision, or did it strain your family relationships?

I’d also want to understand what life was like for your family during the growing conflict between settlers and Aboriginal Tasmanians. What did you know about the people whose country you were settling? How did the violence near your new home affect you and Eleanor?

Finally, I’d ask about Antill Ponds.

After everything you’d experienced, what gave you the confidence to start again? Did you believe you’d finally found the place where your family could put down lasting roots?

Of course, sitting there in 1830, I’d know something John didn’t. His life would end the following May, leaving Eleanor to carry on the White Hart. I wonder whether I’d tell him. Perhaps instead I’d raise my glass and ask one final question.

“John, looking back over your life, what are you most proud of?”

I’d like to think his answer might have less to do with inns, roads and acres of land than with Eleanor and the family they had raised together. But that’s something only John could tell me. And it’s why, nearly two hundred years later, I’d still like to buy him a beer.