In 1874 Bailey published a "Handbook to the Ferns of Queensland", and in the following year was made botanist to the board appointed to investigate diseases of livestock and plants. Consequently, Bailey in 1879 published "An Illustrated Monograph of the Grasses of Queensland" with Karl Staiger. He was afterwards put in charge of the botanical section of the Queensland Museum, in 1881 was made colonial botanist of Queensland, and held this position until his death. He published in 1881 "The Fern World of Australia", and in 1883 appeared "A Synopsis of the Queensland Flora", a work of nearly 900 pages to which supplementary volumes were added in later years. This work was superseded by "The Queensland Flora", published in six volumes between 1899 and 1902 with an index published three years later. In the meantime, there had been "A Companion for the Queensland Student of Plant Life and Botany Abridged" (1897), a revised reissue of two earlier pamphlets. Among other works of Bailey was "A Catalogue of the Indigenous and Naturalised Plants of Queensland" (1890). This was expanded into a "Comprehensive Catalogue of Queensland Plants, Both Indigenous and Naturalised" (1912), which appeared with many illustrations.