Philip Thomas Smith …”was an English gentleman who served for a short time in the Royal Navy, left the sea to become an articled clerk in London, completed his articles, practised as an attorney for a time, and then decided to emigrate to Van Diemen's Land.  The voyage took just under five months, during which he compiled a diary which has now been published for the first time.  It seems he was not short of funds.  He sent £5,000 via the Colonial Agent to invest in the colony and brought three employees with him (as steerage passengers): a general servant, a man to tend his horses, and an engineer to assemble and operate a small steamboat that he brought with him, in a dismantled state.

On arrival in the colony, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land, but he soon left Hobart to devote his time to farming on land that he acquired near Ross. In his later years he was not only a gentleman farmer, but also a prominent social reformer and philanthropist. He died in France in 1880.  In 1877, before leaving Tasmania for the last time, he invested £1,000 in a trust for the purpose of training teachers. With a further £500 donated by his daughter, the Philip Smith Training College was opened in January 1911.” from Speech for the book launch of ”The diary of Philip Thomas Smith on board the Royal Admiral en route for Van Diemen's Land" edited by Richard Fotheringham.