Thomas Gabriel Read

Thomas Gabriel Read ( * 1824-1826 in Tasmania, Australia, † October 1894 in New Norfolk ) was prospector, miner and later a farmer. Through his discovery of gold in Dunedin he triggered the Otago gold rush.

Life

Read was the eldest son of immigrants Frederick Read, merchant and banker, and Margaret Terry, daughter of a miller. In his childhood he suffered a head injury, as a result, he was prone to violent and bizarre behavior. He was still very educated and especially in Classical and English literature interested.

As a young man he sailed on his own schooner to California to find his luck with the search for gold. He did not find the hoped for and eventually sailed to the islands in the Pacific, where he worked as a dealer until he was shipwrecked off Hawaii in 1850. In the same year he returned to Australia, this time to find his fortune in the goldfields of Victoria. Again, his success was moderate.

In 1860, he had had enough of violence and lawlessness that was normal in the gold fields this time, and went back to Hobart Town in Tasmania. But in September 1860, gold fever seized him again, as he had heard of gold found in the Mataura River in the southern part of Otago, New Zealand. In February 1861, he reached Port Chalmers in Otago Harbour. But the Mataura area, meanwhile, had not proved successful. Nevertheless, he went on his way south, and came on his journey with John Hardy, a farmer and a member of the Otago Provincial Council, in contact. This firmly believed in the existence of gold in the area around the Tuapeka River, near the present city of Lawrence. Read followed his recommendation and was finally on 25 May 1861 in the field looking for, which is now known as Gabriel 's Gully and is the starting point of the Otago Gold Rush.

Read more occurrences discovered July 1861 in the so-called Waitahuna field. After this success commissioned him to the Otago Provincial Council in the areas Waipori, Pomahaka and Mataura to search, but found no significant gold deposits more. Disappointed, he stepped on 6 November 1861 by his job back. Standing with £ 1000 in recognition of his services and the certainty in the history book he remained for three years in the country, prospected in the areas around Dustan and Wakatipu and went in 1864 finally back to Tasmania.

Read was a farmer and married his cousin Amelia Mitchell. His uncontrolled violence were more common in 1887 he was admitted as a manic-depressive in the New Norfolk Hospital. Read died in October 1894 in New Norfolk from a stroke.