Francis James Gillen was born at Little Para in 1855. Gillen began working for the postal service at Clare in 1867, and was transferred to Adelaide in 1871. In 1892 he was appointed post and telegraph station master at Alice Springs. As a magistrate and Sub-Protector of Aborigines, Gillen worked for justice for the Aboriginal people, bringing to trial the notorious police trooper WH Willshire on charges of homicide. Although Willshire was acquitted, he was forced to leave Alice Springs.

In 1894 Gillen met the anthropologist Baldwin Spencer in connection with the Horn Scientific Expedition. Spencer returned to Alice Springs in 1896, and with Gillen wrote, The native tribes of Central Australia. Together the two men went on to investigate and publish valuable documentary material about the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Gillen was forced to move from Alice Springs to Moonta in 1899, through family issues. The people of Moonta were well aware of his work and welcomed him as a celebrity. In 1900 and 1903 Gillen joined Spencer on inland expeditions as they continued their work. He was transferred to Port Pirie in 1908, but suffered severe health problems and died in 1912.

Mulvaney, DJ, 'Gillen, Francis James (1855-1912),' Australian Dictionary of Biography, Melbourne (Vic.) : Melbourne University Press, 1983

'The Spencer Gillen expedition,' Yorkes Peninsula advertiser, 12 October 1900, p. 2