Reginald Augustus Frederick Murray

Who was Reginald Augustus Frederick Murray?

Reginald Augustus Frederick Murray was an Australian geologist.

Murray was born in Frimley, Surrey, England, the eldest child of Captain Virginius Murray and his wife Elizabeth Alicia, née Poitier. He was brought to Australia in 1855 by his mother, three years after his father had migrated there. Murray was educated at Rev. T. P. Fenner's, private school at South Yarra, Melbourne. Murray left school in 1860, and worked on a cattle run near Avoca, Victoria and later had some success as a gold prospector.

In April 1862 Murray joined the Geological Survey of Victoria, directed by Alfred Selwyn, as field assistant to Charles Smith Wilkinson. Murray had experience in Bacchus Marsh, Ballan, the Otway ranges, and many other districts. When the Geological Survey was terminated on economic grounds in 1869, Murray engaged in mining and mining surveying in the Ballarat district. He joined the government service again in 1871, and made geological surveys of the Bendigo and Ballarat goldfields. Murray did a lot of pioneering surveying in Gippsland much of which had not been explored; some of this was done with Alfred William Howitt.