Gregory (formerly Gregory Downs) is an

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

town and

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

in the

Shire of Burke The Shire of Burke is a local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. The shire lies on the south coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria and abuts the border with the Northern Territory. It covers an area of , and has existed as a local ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In the , the locality of Gregory had a population of 122 people.

Geography

The town is situated on the banks of the perennial Gregory River. The Gregory River was named by explorer

William Landsborough William Landsborough (21 February 1825 – 16 March 1886) was an explorer of Australia. He was notable for being the first explorer to complete a North-to-South crossing of Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council. ...

on 19 November 1861, after explorer

Augustus Charles Gregory Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1 August 1819 – 25 June 1905) was an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of Queensland. He was appointed a ...

, the first

Surveyor General of Queensland Surveyor General of Queensland is a position originally created for the colony of Queensland, now a state of Australia. The position was the most senior surveyor within the Queensland Public Service. List of Surveyors General of Queensland See ...

. Gregory Downs is a pastoral station which breeds cattle on of native grazing land. It carries approximately 30,000

Brahman cattle In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' (; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Brahman'') connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality of the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, ...

, a breed suitable for the

Gulf Country The Gulf Country or North West Queensland is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also ca ...

. It has an frontage to the Gregory River. It was one of the first pastoral stations established in the Gulf Country.

History

Gregory Post Office opened on 2 May 1878 and closed in 1894. The Gregory Downs pastoral station was established in 1876 by the Watson brothers (Harry F. Watson, Sidney Grandison Watson and Robert McGregor Watson) who travelled overland with approximately 900 cattle. They liked the clear running water in the Gregory River and settled at a crossing point of the river with their cattle on the western bank and their homestead on the eastern bank. In the late 1800s they built the Gregory Downs Hotel and Store near the homestead (), but eventually decided that they found the travellers too much of a nuisance and so they relocated their homestead onto the western bank of the river (). There was a coach service from the hotel to

Burketown Burketown is an isolated outback town and coastal Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Burke, Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Cairns and west of Normanton, Queensland, Normanton on the Albert River (Gulf Sa ...

. The hotel also served as a post for the mounted police. The town had a population of 40 people in 2008. In 2013, the town was renamed from ''Gregory Downs'' to ''Gregory''.

Demographics

In the , the locality of Gregory had a population of 72 people. In the , the locality of Gregory had a population of 122 people.

Education

There are no schools in Gregory. The nearest government primary school is Burketown State School in neighbouring

to the north; however, Gregory is so large that the school would only be accessible to those living in the northern parts of Gregory. There are no secondary schools in Gregory, nor nearby. Other options for schooling are

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

and boarding schools.

Amenities

The Gregory branch of the

Queensland Country Women's Association The Queensland Country Women's Association (QCWA) is the Queensland chapter of the Country Women's Association in Australia. The association seeks to serve the interests of women and children in rural areas in Australia through a network of loca ...

meets at various locations in the district.

Attractions

Willis Lookout is a tourist attraction (). Brodies Lookout is a tourist attraction ().

References

External links

* {{authority control Towns in Queensland North West Queensland Shire of Burke Localities in Queensland