The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Sprent, Charles Percy
Sprent, Charles Percy, son of James Sprent (q.v.), was born at Hobart in 1849. He was educated at the High School, Hobart, and chose the profession of a surveyor. In 1871 he was appointed District Surveyor of the North-western District of Tasmania. In this year, Mr. James Smith's splendid discovery of tin at Mount Bischoff first revealed the mineral treasures hidden in the dense forests of the North-West, and during the next ten years Mr. Sprent did valuable pioneering work in opening the way for prospectors by his explorations of the country lying between Mount Bischoff and Macquarie Harbour. In 1876 he penetrated the mineral belt to the east of the Meredith Range, between Waratale and the Pieman, cutting a track through a dense tangle of scrub and forest. His explorations did much to assist the opening up of the rich mineral resources of Western Tasmania. In 1882 he received the appointment of Deputy-Surveyor-General, in recognition of his services to the Colony. He died at Hobart on June 20th, 1887. Mr. Sprent wrote for the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia an interesting paper on "Recent Explorations on the West Coast of Tasmania" (1885), also a paper on "Antarctic Exploration" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1886).