Gregory

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. The hotel also served as a post for the mounted police. In 2013, the town was renamed from Gregory Downs to Gregory.

Geography

The town is situated on the banks of the perennial Gregory River. The Gregory River was named by explorer William Landsborough on 19 November 1861, after explorer Augustus Charles Gregory, the first Surveyor General of Queensland. Gregory Downs is a pastoral station which breeds cattle on of native grazing land. It carries approximately 30,000 Brahman cattle, a breed suitable for the Gulf Country. It has an frontage to the Gregory River. It was one of the first pastoral stations established in the Gulf Country.

Most-observed species

• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  66
• Willie-wagtail

  Rhipidura leucophrys (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  51
• Whistling Kite

  Haliastur sphenurus (Vieillot, 1818) · Aves
  50
• White-gaped Honeyeater

  Stomiopera unicolor (Gould, 1843) · Aves
  50
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  47
• Great Bowerbird

  Chlamydera nuchalis (Jardine & Selby, 1830) · Aves
  43
• Crimson Finch

  Neochmia phaeton (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841) · Aves
  42
• Peaceful Dove

  Geopelia placida Gould, 1844 · Aves
  42