Thomas Gabriel Read (21 August 1825 – 31 October 1894) was a gold prospector and farmer.

After working on the goldfields of California and Victoria in the 1850s, Read travelled to Otago, New Zealand, on board the Don Pedro II, having heard rumours in September 1860 of gold being found in Mataura, Southland.

On 25 May 1861,[1] he discovered gold close to the banks of the Tuapeka River in Otago, at Gabriel's Gully, which is named after him.

In 1869, he married his cousin, Amelia Mitchell (née Wilson); they remained childless.

Read was admitted to the New Norfolk Hospital for the Insane in Hobart in April 1887, suffering from bipolar disorder.