In England in 1824, a group of investors formed The Van Diemens Land Company, with the sole mandate of the group being to secure land holdings (via government grants) in Van Diemens Land, an area thought at the time to be full of profitable opportunities.

The company was granted permission to cultivate land and breed sheep in 1825, and they were granted 160,000 hectares of land in the northwest of the state for that purpose. They decided to establish their headquarters in the town of Stanley, and Highfield House was duly completed as the base for their Chief Agent , Edward Curr, in 1835.

The financial investment required for the running of this operation was quite substantial. It is not known whether the struggle for survival in the first few years of the company was due to insufficient funds being available for investment, or whether poor leadership on the part of the directors played a more significant role.

Either way, the company struggled, and it was not until the mid 1840s that the operating conditions became more favourable. In 1871 tin was discovered at Mount Bischoff, and as a result the development of Emu Bay was accelerated - all of which proved profitable for the Van Diemens Land Company over the next decade.

The company began to sell off their land for huge profit during the 1880s. In the 1920s the Van Diemens Land Company moved their headquarters to Smithton, and about 20,000 hectares of land are still owned by the company at Woolnorth in the north west of the state.

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