Poimena was built by Henry Button who purchased the land in 1883, and was completed by May 1891. Henry Button, a journalist who eventuallly became the owner of the Examiner, was born in England on 22 March 1829 and came to Launceston in 1837. In 1852 he married Emma Glover of Patterdale, the granddaughter of John Glover. They had four sons and six daughters. The sons were Messrs. Howard, Hedley, Ethelbert, and Stanley. Of the daughters, Misses Eva and Beatrice Button dutifully managed the parental home, while four were married - Mrs. A. Corrie (Brisbane), Mrs. Edward Fysh (Victoria), Mrs. (Dr.) W. Stewart (Latrobe), and Mrs. W. J. Bain (Hobart). Emma died of angina in 1897 while Henry died at his home of a stroke in Lord Street on 11 May 914.;;;;Mrs. Tasman Parker, a widow from the Midland property of Egglestone, purchased the house from Henry Button. She had two children, Elenor and Claude. Claude died during WWI. Elenor married Cecil Headlam and had three childresn, Alexander, Phillip and Marcia. Mrs. Parker died in 1932.;;;;On Friday, 9th March 1951, Poimena was sold by auction and purchased by the Education Department. Poimena Hostel in Button Street, Mowbray opened in 1953 for country boys attending Queechy High School and Launceston Technical High School and was renamed Poimena Hall in 1965 and sometime after 1967 was renamed Poimena Students' Hostel and opened to both male and female students.;;;;A Board ran the facility and operated under the control of the Department.;;;;From 1972-1975 the hostel was operated by the Tasmanian State Institute of Technology (TSIT).;;;;In 1979 when the Maritime College purchased Newnham Hall, the high school students who resided there were transferred to Poimena. ;;;;In 1992 the hostel was struggling due to low numbers and closed at the end of the year.