Brierly met Benjamin Boyd in England and sailed with him to NSW on Boyd's yacht, the Wanderer. They arrived in Sydney in July 1842 after which Brierly became manager of Boyd's pastoral and whaling businesses. He lived at Twofold Bay and was later appointed a magistrate. In 1848, when Boyd's affairs were approaching bankruptcy, Brierly joined Captain Owen Stanley as his guest on the H.M.S. Rattlesnake to survey the Barrier Reef and points north. Later in life he was knighted and appointed as Queen Victoria's Marine Artist.