Thomas Gabriel Read
Gold prospector and farmer
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The basics
Quick Facts
| Intro | Gold prospector and farmer | |
| Places | Australia New Zealand | |
| was | Farmer Miner Explorer | |
| Work field | Engineering | |
| Gender |
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| Birth | 21 August 1825, Tasmania, Australia | |
| Death | 31 October 1894Royal Derwent Hospital, Australia (aged 69 years) | |
| Star sign | Leo |
The details
Biography
(Thomas) Gabriel Read (21 August 1825 – 31 October 1894) was a gold prospector and later a farmer. His discovery of gold in Gabriel's Gully triggered New Zealand's first major the gold rush.
Life
Read was born in 1825 in Tasmania, Australia.
After working on the goldfields of California and Victoria, Australia, Read travelled to Otago, New Zealand, having heard rumours of gold being found in Mataura, Southland. On 25 May 1861 he discovered gold close to the banks of the Tuapeka River in Otago, at Gabriel's Gully, which is named after him. This discovery led to the Otago Gold Rush.
In 1864, he returned to Tasmania. In 1869, he married his cousin, Amelia Mitchell (née Wilson); they remained childless. Read was submitted to the New Norfolk Hospital for the Insane in Hobart in April 1887, suffering from bipolar disorder. He remained at that hospital until his death on 31 October 1894.