Mosman initially aspired to be a pastoralist, but failed to establish a successful career and was left broke.[5] He visited Queensland in 1860, hoping to acquire properties there; this was also unsuccessful.[6] Mosman decided then to try his hand at prospecting.[4] He spent the next ten years mining,[6] and in 1870 he revisited Queensland, choosing to work in Ravenswood.[4]
Gold
On 24 December 1871,[7] Mosman was travelling with miners George Clark, James Fraser, and his servant, Jupiter Mosman, attempting to locate missing horses.[8] After he found them, Jupiter located some shining gold nestled in a creek.[7] Mosman named the place where the gold had been located Charters Towers (Charters Tors) after the gold mining warden W. S. E. M. Charters.[9] After Jupiter's discovery was reported in January 1872, Ravenswood's population blossomed to around 30,000 people.[10] The discovery prompted a gold rush in north of Queensland.[4]
Mosman's life was largely simple from that point forward. In 1882, Mosman's left forearm was blown off by dynamite, which had exploded earlier than it was supposed to.[4] Mosman remained generally reclusive up until June 1891, when he became a member of the Queensland Legislative Council.[5] He did not give many speeches, and they were noted as being "conservative and unremarkable". He resigned in January 1905.[4]
Later life
In retirement, Mosman pursued his interest in horse racing, owning a number of horses. His horse Balfour won the Queensland Turf Club Derby in 1902.[11] In 1899, Mosman purchased a 300-acre farm in Auckland, New Zealand, where he bred race horses.[12][13]
In the final months of his life, he was not in good health. However, on Saturday 13 November 1909, Mosman went to Eagle Farm Racecourse for the Derby race, but was forced to return home after the first race feeling ill. On the following Monday 15 November, he was at his residence Easton Gray, Soudan Street, Toowong, Brisbane, when he drank a glass of milk and died.[5][11] He was buried in Toowong Cemetery on 16 November 1909.[14][15][16]
Mosman's farm in Auckland was sold to investors in December 1910, eventually becoming the modern-day South Auckland suburb of Favona.[17][12]
A street in Charters Towers was named after him.
Mosman Park, a suburb in Charters Towers, is named after him.[18]
The Mossman River was named by the explorer George Dalrymple on 6 December 1873. Dalrymple wrote "I named this river the Mossman River, after Mossman, an explorer and mining man, member of a very prominent mining family". The town of Mossman takes its name from the river.[19][20]
