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Black Snake Inn owners

George William Robinson and Elizabeth Presnell

Massachusetts born, George William Robinson (1801-1839), arrived in Australia in 1818 on the American brig General Gates.

The ship had been on a voyage into the Southern Ocean to hunt seals, arriving in Hobart for repairs.

Robinson applied to the Lieutenant Governor William Sorrell for permission to stay in the colony where Robinson secured a position with the Hobart Merchant firm of Charlton, McCloud and Company.

In 1923 George Robinson married Elizabeth Presnell (1802-1885), the daughter of a successful carter and farmer, William Presnell.

His father-in-law gifted him 50 acres of land at New Norfolk and was granted a further 200 acres on which he intended to grow tobacco. Robinson held a number of hotel licenses including the ‘Eagle Tavern’ on Argyle Street in Hobart and the ‘Lovely Banks Inn’ north of Hobart on the road to Launceston.

Between 1832 and 1837 Robinson with his wife Elizabeth owned the Black Snake Inn and operated a coaching service between Hobart and New Norfolk.

Most likely due to his failing health Robinson and Elizabeth decided to offer the Inn for sale in 1835.

At this time, he had subdivided the land and created three roads being George Street, Washington Street and Union Street; names that speak strongly to his American heritage.

George William Robinson died on the 7 September 1839 from an enlarged liver.

View of Midway-House on the way to Elizabeth-town, Ile Van-Diemen [picture]/L’Auvergne pinxit; Bichebois lith, 1833
View of Midway-House on the way to Elizabeth-town, Ile Van-Diemen [picture]/L’Auvergne pinxit; Bichebois lith, 1833.Source: National Library of Australia

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Richard Cornelius Burrows

Richard Cornelius Burrows (1759-1818), a farmer, was found guilty of stealing an ewe in 1787. Burrows’ death sentence was commuted to seven years transportation and he left for New South Wales on the Scarborough in 1789.

Burrows arrived in Sydney as part of the Second Fleet and then he was sent to Norfolk Island to serve out his sentence where he began living with Elizabeth Cole with whom he had three children.

In 1808 the family left Norfolk Island for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) where in 1813 he was the first European to be granted ownership of the parcel of land the Black Snake Inn sits on.

Burrows built a rough bush house and established a ferry business here to transport passengers across the River Derwent.

In 1818, tragedy struck as the ferry Burrows operated capsized in a strong sea-breeze, drowning Burrows and 11 passengers, including women and children. One exhausted sole survivor was pulled from the river by two witnesses to the accident.

Burrow’s land was purchased by William Presnell whose son would go on to establish a ‘Half-way House’ on the site (to be the Black Snake Inn).

Image of old folio plan of Richard Burrows land
5. Extract of plan AF396/1/23 ca. 1835. Source: Tasmanian Archives & Heritage Office

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William Presnell

William Presnell (1764-1839) was sentenced to transportation for stealing horned cattle in Essex, England, arriving in Sydney in 1798 on board the Barwell.

Presnell was sent to Norfolk Island for his sentence, where he started a relationship with Ann Fowler (1764-1854) and moved to Tasmania in 1808 with their family.

In 1816, Presnell received a conditional pardon for his crime and by 1819 after establishing several businesses in Hobart Town, he purchased Richard Burrow’s land grant (the site of the Black Snake Inn) establishing a farm and successful market garden, just 250 metres from the River Derwent.

In 1822, Presnell’s son Thomas received a license to sell beer in the ‘Half-way House’, which may have been in the house built by Burrows, or in a new structure.

In 1826, William Presnell’s brother Thomas Snr was operating the Blake Snake Ferry and had claimed ownership of the Black Snake Farm.

The ‘Half-way House’ reopened its doors as the Black Snake Inn in 1827 with the Presnell family holding the licence for the following six years.

Following the commencement of the construction of the Bridgewater Bridge in 1830, the prospect of increased traffic is likely to have provided the impetus for the construction of the ‘New House’.

The house, located to the east of the first building, was built from local cut stone in the American Gothic style, using assigned convict labour and ‘loans’ from those employed in the construction of the Causeway.

The house was opened in 1833 by William Presnell’s American son-in-law, George Robinson, as ‘The New House, Black Snake’ before reverting to ‘The Black Snake Inn’.

Black Snake Inn, c.1820s. Source: State Library of New South Wales
Black Snake Inn, c.1820s. Source: State Library of New South Wales
Gravestone; Thomas & William Presnell
Gravestone; Thomas & William Presnell. Source: Dan Farrar, 2021. https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Presnell-351

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