Pearson in his biographical work, The Prospector of Argylla: "Few men have encompassed more in their lifetime than he, and not many have known greater toil and hardship.

He emigrated to Australia when he heard that gold had been discovered, arriving in Melbourne with his brothers Arthur and Alfred in 1858 on board the sailing ship Red Jacket.

Not greatly impressed by prospects on the goldfields, Henry rode to Brisbane with the idea of exploring the outskirts of northern settlement to take up a run of his own.

In Brisbane, Henry met George Elphinstone Dalrymple who was planning an expedition to explore the Burdekin River.

Henry accompanied by another expeditioner and an Aboriginal boy made his way back early in the expedition to present his applications for land.

[5] Henry's participation in Dalrymple's expedition resulted in him securing three pastoral stations: Baroondah (now the locality of Baroondah) on the Dawson River, Mount McConnel at the junction of the Suttor and Burdekin rivers, and Conway (which adjoined Mount McConnel) at the head of Sellheim Creek.

Henry wanted to view this new country himself and set out from Mount McConnell on 24 November 1863 with a Mr Devlin and his favourite aboriginal boy, Dick.

In a letter to his mother, Henry called it "rashness and too-eager ambition" to acquire four properties in as many years and attempt to stock and improve them.

In that letter, Henry again accepts blame, but he also expresses optimism "for fresh exertions with a less aspiring, though steadier and more calculating, zeal.

[6] On the loss of his properties, Henry focussed his attention on the country west of Hughenden Station with the object of acquiring another run.

On an exploring trip in the Cloncurry region in 1867, Henry found lumps of a heavy black mineral and took samples to Peak Downs, the nearest settlement inland from Rockhampton, to report and register their find.

Although the lode was rich, copper was low in value, and it was costly to cart ore to Normanton and bring stores to the mine.

Writing to his mother in the same year he said: In 1883 Tarsis Copper Smelting Company began work on the Great Australian mine.