Francis Thomas Gregory

Francis Thomas Gregory ( * October 19, 1821 in Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom, † October 24, 1888 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia ) was an explorer and politician in Australia.

Early life

Francis Thomas Gregory was the second of five sons of Joshua Gregory (1790-1838), a lieutenant of the 78th Regiment in the UK, and his wife Frances, nee Churchman. His father was wounded as a soldier and came 1829 in the new Swan River Colony, where he arrived with his family in 1829 on the ship Lotus and was assigned alongside John Roe Augustus country. Francis Thomas Gregory worked as a surveyor of roads and villages and made use licenses for the country. He developed a device that sent out flashes of light and was installed on Rottnest Iceland. Francis Thomas Gregory was born in 1841 with the support of John Roe Augustus in the civil service, where he learned surveying until 1841. Subsequently, he was appointed land surveying assistant and then employed as a surveyor in the public contract in 1849.

Expeditions

Gregory Thomas Francis was the younger brother of the explorer Augustus Gregory. With two of his brothers, he explored as early as 1846 the land north of Perth.

With 18 men, including his brother Henry, Ferdinand von Mueller, and other scientists, he sailed from Moreton Bay from August 1855, they reached the mouth of the Victoria River. From there he went back to the Sturt Creek and then 483 km, until they came to the desert. There turned the expedition and explored the Elsey, Roper and the MacArthur River, which they crossed, and named after Ludwig Leichhardt, before coming back to Brisbane. On this way back they came to the rivers Flinders, Burdekin, Fritz and Burnett River. In the 16 -months-long expedition they laid 3219 km to 8047 km lake and back on land.

In 1857 he explored the course of the Upper Murchison River and in 1858 he examined the country to the east and north. In 1858 he led an expedition on behalf of the Government of New South Wales in search of the lost by Ludwig Leichhardt, where he only found traces of him. On this expedition he marked the southern border of Queensland and on June 3, 1858, he ascended the largest monolith on earth was the first European, Mount Augustus, whom he named after his brother Augustus on August 31.

In 1860 he went to London, where he was commissioned by the British government to carry out an expedition to the north -west coast of Australia. Gregory left Fremantle on 23 April 1861, and four days later, at the Champion Bay, he met three volunteers and the expedition thus grew to nine people. They arrived after Roebourne on 24 May and launched in the domestic market the following day. They reached the Fortescue River, they followed a few days and turned to the southwest and followed the Hardey River. On June 25 they reached 23 degrees and 56 minutes Geographical latitude, where they turned and came back to their starting point on July 19. On July 29, a further expedition to the East began. Gregory returned with his expedition on October 17th and had discovered excellent country. Perth they reached November 9, 1861. Gregory estimated that there were about 8,000 to 12,000 km ² usable grassland and also opportunities for the trade of Australian pearl fisheries in the area explored by him.

Late life

1862 Gregory went to Queensland and was for some years the manager of the land of the British Crown, and he was elected a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. In 1863 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. From 1874 he was the main responsible head of the post for a short time. In 1888 he died in Toowoomba.