Early life

Gray claimed to have been born at Hay, New South Wales

Hay, New South Wales

Hay is a town in the western Riverina region of south western New South Wales , Australia.  It is the administrative centre of Hay Shire Local Government Area and the centre of a prosperous and productive agricultural district on the wide Hay Plains....

 on 2 October 1903 to bank manager George Henry Gray and his wife Priscilla Maud Kerr. He grew up near Orange

Orange, New South Wales

Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....

 and was educated at Burwood

Burwood, New South Wales

Burwood is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Burwood is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of Burwood Council....

 Public School in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, then becoming a grocer's assistant at Thornleigh

Thornleigh, New South Wales

Thornleigh is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Thornleigh is located north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Shire...

. He later became a customs officer at Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 in the mid 1920s.

Gray returned to Australia around 1926 and moved to Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, becoming a farmer and organiser for the Douglas Credit Party

Douglas Credit Party

The Douglas Credit Party was an Australian political party based around the social credit theory of monetary reform, first set out by C. H. Douglas. It gained its strongest result in Queensland in 1935, when it gained 7.02% of first preferences. The party's strongest federal result was at the 1934...

. On 4 August 1939 he was the leader of a raid comprising thirty-seven members of the League for Social Justice on Parliament House

Parliament House, Brisbane

Parliament House in Brisbane is the home of the Parliament of Queensland, housing the Legislative Assembly. It is situated on the corner of George Street and Alice Street...

 in the Queensland capital of Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. The raiders demanded lower unemployment

Unemployment

Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

 and better conditions for primary producers from the government. Gray and the others were arrested for unlawful assembly

Unlawful assembly

Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group are about to start the act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then termed a riot.- Section 144 :Section 144 is a...

 but were acquitted at the subsequent trial. Later, he claimed to have been spying on the league for intelligence authorities. On 20 April 1944 he married Elsa Noelen Braham Stratton, aged 19, at Woollahra

Woollahra, New South Wales

Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra. The Municipality of Woollahra takes its name from the...

 in Sydney.

Military service

Gray was mobilised on 29 May 1940 and served in Queensland and Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. In May 1942 he was commissioned in the Australian Imperial Force

Australian Imperial Force

The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...

, and on 12 December 1944 he transferred to the Reserve of Officers as a captain. Returning to Brisbane, he became an accountant for Queensland Cement & Lime Co. and owned a business (run by his wife Elsa) at Bowen Hills

Bowen Hills, Queensland

Bowen Hills is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia, located 3 km northeast of the Brisbane CBD. It was named after a Governor of Queensland, Sir George Ferguson Bowen.-History:...

.

Return from the military

In 1946, the Grays moved to Toowoomba

Toowoomba, Queensland

Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...

, where Gray managed Co-operative Sales and Service Co. and joined the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

. Having formed the Roseneath Pastoral Company in 1950 with two associates, he began dairy farming near Laidley

Laidley, Queensland

Laidley is a town situated in the Lockyer Valley of South East Queensland, Australia. The township lies 83 km west of Brisbane, the state capital....

. Unfortunate weather and a fire in May 1951 that burnt Gray's house down compromised the venture. In 1955 he became secretary of the Rockhampton

Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....

 Agricultural Society.

Federal politics

In 1961, Gray was elected to the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 as the Labor member for Capricornia

Division of Capricornia

The Division of Capricornia is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for the Tropic of Capricorn, which runs through the Division. It is located on the central Queensland coast and its...

. In parliament he was chiefly concerned with northern development and defence. He designed a combined tank and tank-carrier for the army, which received serious consideration.

Gray was an elder of the John Knox Presbyterian Church in Rockhampton, and was a teetotaller. On 2 August 1967 he died of pulmonary oedema at Rockhampton and was buried in the North Rockhampton cemetery; he was survived by his wife, three sons, and three daughters. His wife Elsa ("Bray") was an alderman with Rockhampton City Council

City of Rockhampton

The City of Rockhampton was a Local Government Area located in the Central Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, encompassing most of the suburban area of the regional city of Rockhampton...

(1973-91) and was State secretary of the Australian Local Government Women's Association for eight years.