Marsh Paddock Inn was built c.1850[4] for William Walter Motton, owner of a Launceston to Westbury stage coach business in the 1840s.

From 1860 to 1864 the licensee was George Axtell, former Port Arthur "Point Puer" juvenile convict.

[4] Railway transport began when the western line from Launceston to Deloraine opened on 10 February 1871.

[8] By the 1930s Exton's population had declined due to the mechanization of farming and improved transport reducing the need for labour.

At this time the town's services had expanded to include the state school, a railway station, a savings bank, G D Loone's general store and offices for postal, telegraph and money order services.

[13] Thee Meander River flows through the locality from west to east, and then forms part of the eastern boundary.

[14] The Bass Highway (National Route 1) enters from the east and runs through to the west, where it exits.