Nothing black and white about the Greys

The 1839 marriage of Sir George Grey and Eliza Lucy Spencer began with a cloud-laden horizon in the distance. George was known for his volatile and idiosyncratic ways, while Eliza was later described by contemporaries as ‘a perfect devil’.

The Grey’s tranquil, smooth wax portraits – made by Australia’s first female sculptor, Theresa Walker – belie the turbulent discord of the couple’s 57-year marriage. George was a gifted but high-handed colonial administrator, while Eliza was a spirited, polarising figure. Their fractious union had multiple flashpoints. When the couple’s child died in infancy in Adelaide in 1841, early in George’s stint as Governor of South Australia, he accused Eliza of neglect. En route by ship to another post in South Africa some two decades later, Eliza wrote to a male passenger of her unhappiness. An incensed Sir George had her dumped in Rio de Janeiro, leading to a 37-year separation. The couple were reunited in 1896 in London, but Sir George soon had Eliza removed to relieve him of the ‘excitement of her presence’. They would die and be buried apart, in 1898, estranged in death as they were for much of their marriage.