Ms Gee’s book on Mr Jones, who was the original owner of the building, was unveiled at an afternoon tea at Franklin House on Saturday.

“Being a guide has given me an interest,” she said.

“This desire of research came about with the community of this area.

“I’ve learned a lot about the people who lived in this area.

“The house has become so important to us. A great interest.”

Ms Gee said Mr Jones was born in 1800 in Bristol, United Kingdom.

He was charged with grand larceny and spent two years on a prison hulk on the Thames, before being sent to Hobart in 1820.

From there, he was sent to Port Dalrymple, and then to a farm near Evandale.

“From the research I have done and the people here have done, Britton Jones was a man … where whatever trial or problem that faced him, he kept going.

“We think his motto was ‘give it a go’.”

Ms Gee said during her research she had found some blank areas, such as how Mr Jones met his wife.

“But, I think some history needs to stay with them,” she said.

After earning his freedom in 1825, Mr Jones ended up becoming an entrepreneur and businessman in Tasmania and eventually built Franklin House.

He later moved to San Francisco during the gold rush, where he ran the Unity Hotel.

“It was the wild, wild, wild west,” Ms Gee said.

After a scandal, he was put on a ship back to Sydney, and died about two years later in 1856.

Ms Gee’s book is available from Franklin House for $20, with funds going toward upkeep of the grounds.