In 1813, William and Mary Abel, ex-convicts from Norfolk Island, were granted the land on which Valleyfield sits. They built the house and, in 1822, turned it into a hotel called Kings Head Inn.
William and Mary lived on the property with their children until 1826, when a tragic accident occurred. Late one night, William saw the figure of a man on the property. Believing the man to be a bushranger, William shot and killed him. The figure wasn’t a bushranger at all – it was William’s son, Henry. This sad event was no doubt devastating for the Abel family, and especially traumatic for William.
A fellow named George Lowe took over Valleyfield from the Abels and continued running the hotel until 1832, when he sold the property to retired army officer Richard Armstrong. Armstrong wasn’t terribly good at managing his finances because he soon ran into money problems, which culminated in him selling Valleyfield to the Shoobridge family, who used it to farm hops and apples.
In 1910, the Shoobridges leased Valleyfield to a man called Hugh Ashton Warner, who bought the property from them nine years later. It has remained in the Warner family ever since.
Valleyfield in 1966.
Tas That Was is a column that includes:
- anecdotes of life in Tasmania in the past;
- historical photographs of locations in Tasmania; and/or
- documentaries about locations in Tasmania.
If you have an anecdote or photograph you’d like to share with us, please send it to [email protected].
Callum J. Jones studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania. He has written fiction and non-fiction for Tasmanian Times since 2018, and can be traced by the smell of fresh coffee.
Follow him on Twitter (@Callum_Jones_10) and Facebook (@callum.j.jones.creative).