Mount Pleasant is an Italianate-Victorian mansion on a hill above South Launceston. It is perhaps one of the finest colonial houses in northern Tasmania. It was built in 1865 by John Crookes (1805-1870), a prominent merchant, churchman and politician. The property was acquired by Henry Reed when he returned to Tasmania in 1873. Henry Reed was a wealthy businessmen and an ardent evangelist who made a significant contribution to the Christian cause in Australia and in Britain. Reed was born in Doncaster, England in 1806. At the age of 20 he sailed for Hobart arriving in April 1827. From Hobart he walked to Launceston, a distance of 120 miles. Reed had a deep religious experience in the early 1830s when a small boat he was rowing overturned on the Tamar River and he almost drowned. Once ashore, he knelt down to give thanks for his deliverance. This incident had an enormous influence on his religious life. As a businessman Reed made his initial fortune through the acquisition of land and b...
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