In August 1912 the Hunter Report on the future of shipping services on the Tamar River recommended the construction of a new wharf in Launceston. With cargo and passenger ships getting bigger and an expanding apple and pear industry the Launceston Marine Board had engaged English civil engineer W. H. (Henry) Hunter to provide a plan for the port of Launceston. At the time, the wharves of the Launceston port were in the North Esk River but bigger ships needed deeper shipping c

In 1867 pastoralist William Gibson of Native Point, near Perth, bought the property Scone, just across the South Esk River, from David Ritchie who wanted to concentrate on his flour milling enterprises. It is said William Gibson bought Scone for his son, also William, who was 22 years old at the time. Work started on a grand house at Scone in 1870 while young William Gibson was in Europe and before his marriage to Elvina Beaumont Grubb, of Newnham Hall, Launceston, in March 1