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The Wikipedia article for Strzelecki includes the following information about him:

"His main interest was the mineralogy of Australia. In September [1839] he discovered gold and silver near Wellington (NSW) and in the Vale of Clwyd, in the vicinity of Hartley. He collected there numerous samples of Australian gold, which were sent to the eminent geologist Sir Roderick Murchison of London, and also to Berlin, but the Governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, fearing unrest among 45,000 convicts, stifled the news about the discovery.

"Later in 1839 Strzelecki set out on an expedition into the Australian Alps and explored the Snowy Mountains with James Macarthur, James Riley and two Aboriginal guides: Charlie Tarra and Jackey. In 1840 he climbed the highest peak on mainland Australia and named it Mount Kosciuszko, to honour Tadeusz Kosciuszko, one of the national heroes of Poland and a hero of the American Revolutionary War. On Victorian maps (but never on New South Wales maps) the name Mount Kosciusko was erroneously connected to the neighbouring peak, at present known as Mount Townsend and causing later many confusions, including the recent incorrect information on swapping the names of the mountains. From there Strzelecki explored Gippsland which he named after the governor. After passing the La Trobe River it was found necessary to abandon the horses and all the specimens that had been collected and try to reach Western Port. For 22 days they were on the edge of starvation and were ultimately saved by the knowledge and hunting ability of their guide Charlie, who caught native animals for them to eat. The party, practically exhausted, arrived at Western Port on 12 May 1840 and reached Melbourne on 28 May. The Strzelecki Ranges are named in his honour.

"From 1840 to 1842, based in Launceston, Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land), Strzelecki explored nearly every part of the island, usually on foot with three men and two pack horses. His friends, the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Franklin, and his wife, Lady Jane, afforded him every help in his scientific endeavours.

"Strzelecki left Tasmania on 29 September 1842 by steamer and arrived in Sydney on 2 October. He was collecting specimens in northern New South Wales towards the end of that year, and on 22 April 1843, he left Sydney after having travelled 11,000 kilometres (7,000 miles) through New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, examining the geology along the way. He went to England after visiting China, the East Indies and Egypt.

"In 1845 he published his Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. The book gained the praise of Charles Darwin and other scientists and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. It was an unsurpassed source of knowledge on Australia for at least forty-five years. He also published the first map of Gippsland and its description which helped to open up this fertile part of Victoria. He produced the first large geological map of Eastern Australia and Tasmania.

"In 1845 he became a naturalised British subject."