He was a staff member of the Victoria Archaeological Survey from 1983 to April 1988; his research interests are in the Aboriginal and natural history of Melbourne.
One important contribution was the transcription and editing of the unpublished journals of George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector of Aborigines in the Port Phillip District, 1839-1849.
[2] Presland was the Thomas Ramsay Science and Humanities Fellow at Museum Victoria in 2001.
Presland is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, and has been an editor of The Victorian Naturalist, the journal of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, since 2003.
His recent research has focused on the early history of Melbourne.