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When his father died in 1838 Gregory was already working as a contract surveyor in partnership with his older
brother, Joshua William. He was appointed assistant surveyor in the Western Australian Survey Department in
- His brother Frank (Francis Thomas) was his chainman. The pair worked long hours and hard. Gregory’s field
books record surveys of the Perth lakes, Peel and Murray estuaries, Bunbury, Kojonup and Geraldton, and tracings
of the Blackwood and Gordon rivers. His first exploration was in response to a pressing need to extend Western
Australian pasture runs. Aged 25, together with his brothers Frank and Henry, Gregory left Perth in September
1846 on a seven-week expedition. They rode northeast from Perth to the upper reaches of the Irwin River that they
followed west to the coast. They found good pasture land and Henry discovered coal in the riverbed. Commended
for his ‘zeal, energy and enterprising spirit’, Gregory was invited by local pastoralists and graziers in 1848 to
lead an expedition to the Murchison and Gascoyne rivers. The Settlers Expedition comprised nine men, including
Charles Gregory, and the journey of 2 400 kilometres took 10 weeks. The explorers reached the Murchison but
were rebuffed by drought in their attempt for the Gascoyne. They were compensated by finding lead and copper
traces at the mouth of the Murchison, which soon led to the formation of the Geraldine Mine. Next December,
while on a tour of inspection and escorted by Gregory, Aborigines speared Governor Fitzgerald in the vicinity
of the mine. Gregory removed the barb from the Governor’s leg. Subsequently Gregory returned to survey the
Champion Bay district before settlement and, in 1850, he took the first settlers to the area and opened a stock route.
He then returned to survey duties in the south; he had been named superintendent of roads in 1849.
In December 1854 Gregory accepted a prestigious invitation from the British government to lead a scientific
exploration (the North Australian Expedition 1855–56). The expedition had been arranged in London after prolonged
negotiations between the Royal Geographical Society’s Council and the Colonial Office and in consultation with
veteran explorers Eyre, Stokes and Sturt, and scientists Murchison, Hooker and de la Beche. Gregory was briefed
to explore the north and northwest of Australia with particular regard to pasture land. He was to examine navigable
rivers, possible town sites, the potential for agricultural settlement, and to gain knowledge about the interior of the
continent and Aboriginal customs and habits. The expeditionary party consisted of eighteen men, including five
scientists. They were H C Gregory, assistant commander; J S Wilson, geologist; T Baines, artist and storekeeper;
J R Elsey, surgeon and naturalist; F von Mueller, botanist; J Flood, collector and preserver; G Phibbs, overseer;
J Melville, farrier; W Dawson, harness maker; H Richards, carpenter, C Humphries, R Bowman, C Dean,
F Shewell, W Selby and S MacDonald, stockmen.
After eight months’ procrastination (not of Gregory’s making), the expedition left Brisbane on 12 August - The explorers travelled up the Queensland coast in the support schooner Tom Tough and the supply barque
Monarch. They carried 250 horses. The Monarch struck a reef off Quail Island, causing much distress to the
stock and ten days delay for the explorers. Gregory swam the horses ashore on 18 September at Treachery Bay
and transhipped sheep and stores to the Tom Tough. He suffered stock losses in the process. Monarch sailed
on the 24th for Singapore and Tom Tough passed through Queen’s Channel into the Victoria River. Gregory,
accompanied by Henry Gregory, Mueller and six men, took the horses overland across the Macadam Range.
En route they survived a nocturnal attack by crocodiles from the Fitzmaurice River, a potentially dangerous grass
fire in the Vambarrah Range and a challenging descent down a steep sandstone cliff face to the Victoria River,
15 kilometres from Kangaroo Point. Gregory failed to find an expected message at the point. Three days later,
much fatigued, out of provisions and low in ammunition, the explorers were relieved to sight Elsey’s welcoming
camp. ‘They all ate heartily, too much, and were consequently sick’, but recovered when Gregory produced some
brandy.
Because of adverse tides Gregory, travelling in a longboat, did not reach the depot camp until 22 October.
Earlier Tom Tough had foundered at Mosquito Flats. However, he thought the campsite ‘most advantageous’.
It was located on a ridge beside deep water; protected by the Steep Head promontory from the Whirlwind Plains
beyond and sheltered by river gums, box trees and acacia. Gregory dispatched working parties to assemble timber
and other material to construct the base camp. Later the cluster of buildings with its garden, sheep pens and
surrounding moat-like ditch, was said to look like ‘an English farm yard’. Two great boab trees named Andansonia
gregorii by Mueller, to honour his leader, stood in the centre of the site.
Having made several preliminary reconnaissances, Gregory, with a party of nine men, 36 horses and provisions
for five months, was ready to leave on 1 January 1856 for the western arm of his exploration. Concentrated food and
ammunition were stowed in the packsaddles that he had designed. At the point of departure, a farewell cannonade
from the schooner startled the horses, which stampeded leaving a trail of equipment in their wake. The reassembled
party left on 4 January for Beagle Valley. A mare foaled east of jasper Range where Gregory marked a gum tree
‘NAE 11 Jan 1856’. He rode over grass plains to the Wickham River. At Depot Creek (16° 47’ 58”), he split the
party and left Baines in charge. With Henry Gregory, Mueller, Dean and 11 horses carrying basic rations, he
struck west.
Soon the rains ceased and creeks dried out. Distant Aborigines watched the explorers, but they were not
threatened. By February, vegetation and wildlife was sparse and water in the occasional holes was as ‘thick as
cream’. Gregory entered Western Australia (129th parallel) on 20 February and travelled 480 kilometres in the
vain hope of finding inland water. In mid March, he made a quick retreat from the Great Australian Desert to
reach Depot Creek on 7 April. He named many land features including Sturt Creek, Jasper Range, Baines River,
Roe Downs, Hooker Creek, Mounts Wittenoom, Mueller and Wilson, Denison Plains and the Great Australian
Desert. Subsequently his furthermost point was to be known as the Gregory Salt Sea. He discovered vast pastures,
entered strange caves and saw wondrous paintings and he helped Mueller gather rare botanical specimens,
for example, the seed of the water lily Nymphaea gigantea. At Depot Creek he drew up maps and made another