View source for Reginald Augustus Frederick Murray

{{Short description|Australian geologist and surveyor-general (1846–1925)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Reginald Augustus Frederick Murray''' (18 February 1846<ref name=Mennell>{{cite Australasia|Murray, Reginald Augustus Frederick}}</ref> &ndash; 5 September 1925) was a [[Victoria State Government|Victorian Government]] [[geologist]] and [[surveyor]]-general.

== Biography ==
Murray was born on 18 February 1846, in [[Frimley]], [[Surrey]], [[England]], the eldest child of Captain Virginius Murray<ref name="Mennell" /> (1817–1861) and his wife Elizabeth Alice ([[née]] Poitiers). He went to Australia in 1855 with his mother, three years after his father. Murray was educated at Rev. T. P. Fenner's, (M.A.) private school in [[South Yarra]]. Murray left school in 1860, and worked on a cattle run near [[Avoca, Victoria]] and later had some success as a [[gold prospector]].<ref name="ADB" />

In April 1862, Murray joined the [[Geological Survey of Victoria]], directed by [[Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn|Alfred Selwyn]], as field assistant to [[Charles Smith Wilkinson]].<ref name="ADB" /> Murray had experience in [[Bacchus Marsh, Victoria|Bacchus Marsh]], [[Ballan, Victoria|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, Victoria|Ballarat]] district. He joined the government service again in 1871, and made geological surveys of the [[Bendigo, Victoria|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]].<ref name="ADB" />

In 1881, Murray was appointed geological surveyor for the Department of Mines, [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], and remained until his resignation in 1897. He afterwards held appointments with various British mining companies and in his later years did a good deal of prospecting work. In 1887 he published a capable volume, ''Victoria: Geology and Physical Geography'', and a large number of his reports and maps will be found listed in ''Bulletin No. 23'' of the geological survey of Victoria, p.&nbsp;33. He was a hard-working and able geologist, who did excellent exploring and pioneering geological work in Victoria and particularly in relation to mining country.

Murray died in [[Caulfield, Victoria]], on 5 September 1925, aged 79. He was married twice.<ref name="ADB">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography
|first= D. F. Branagan |last=T. G. Vallance
|title=Murray, Reginald Augustus Frederick (1846–1925)
|id2=murray-reginald-augustus-frederick-4280
|accessdate=27 December 2012
}}</ref>

==Works==

* {{cite Q|Q108402243|author-mask=0}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Reginald Augustus Frederick |Last=Murray|shortlink=0-dict-biogMu-My.html#murray5}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Reginald}}
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:1846 births]]
[[Category:Australian public servants]]
[[Category:Geologists from Melbourne]]
[[Category:People from the Colony of Victoria]]