author
Francis Thomas Gregory
1821–1888
An English-born explorer who helped map Western Australia’s north and northwest, he later carried his experience into public life in Queensland. His journeys opened up vast stretches of country to colonial settlement and left a lasting mark on Australian exploration history.
1 Audiobook
Journals of Australian Explorations
by Augustus Charles Gregory, Francis Thomas Gregory
About the author
Born in Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1821, Francis Thomas Gregory migrated to Western Australia with his family as a child. He entered government service in the Swan River colony, trained as a surveyor, and became closely linked with exploration work in the Australian interior.
Gregory joined expeditions with his older brother Augustus Gregory and later led important journeys of his own. He is especially remembered for exploring parts of the Murchison, Gascoyne, and Pilbara regions, where his reports on land and water helped encourage pastoral expansion in the northwest. Several places were named during or after these expeditions, reflecting the influence of his work on colonial maps.
Later, he settled in Queensland, served as Commissioner for Crown Lands on the Darling Downs, and became a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. He died in Toowoomba in 1888, remembered as both an explorer and a public figure in colonial Australia.