Joseph Bradshaw (1854 – 23 July 1916) was a pastoralist in Western Australia and then the Northern Territory.
Bradshaw was born in Melbourne in 1854, one of seven children born to a Victorian landowner. His father, Joseph Senior, owned Avoca and Bacchus Marsh stations. Little is known of his childhood other than he had an adventurous spirit and was ambitious and determined, and received his education in Melbourne.
After reading positive reports on pastoral prospects of the Kimberley district in Western Australia written by Alexander Forrest and also influenced by earlier stories by Philip Parker King Bradshaw formed a syndicate to acquire land along the Prince Regent River.
In 1890 received approval for 20 blocks of land each with a size of 50,000 acres (20,234 ha), a total area of 4,047 square kilometres (1,563 sq mi) on either side of the river. In January 1891, Bradshaw left Melbourne for Wyndham only to find the town had been destroyed by a cyclone when he arrived. While exploring the area he became lost. and unwittingly became the first European to see Bradshaw rock paintings, a distinctive style of Aboriginal art. He first saw these paintings in 1891 and the style of art was named after him, but now more commonly referred to as Gwion Gwion or Giro Giro.
Bradshaw named the run Marigui, now known as Drysdale River Station, and soon returned to Melbourne to organise the settlement of the property and marry Mary Guy. He soon returned with a group of settlers including his cousin, Aeneus Gunn, and his wife via Darwin.
A trial mob of sheep were landed and used to stock the property before cattle were to be introduced. Bradshaw tried to introduce cattle in 1894 but received a large livestock tax bill that resulted in him abandoning his property and acquiring new lands in the Victoria River district in the Northern Territory.