(1812 - 1898)

Born in Portugal, the young Grey received his education in England and served in the army for a spell, before becoming dissatisfied and applying to the Colonial Office and the Royal Geographical Society to assist him to fund an expedition to find a new settlement in Australia.

In 1838 he landed at Hanover Bay on the northwest coast, and he made several short journeys into the interior before discovering and naming Glenelg River, Stephen Range and Mount Lyell. A failed expedition to Shark Bay on the west coast occurred in 1839 when the boats sank and the party were forced to travel on foot to Perth.

However, Grey did make some important observations on the way, and wrote a book about the language of the Aborigines. He returned to England where he was offered the position of governor of South Australia in 1840.

Upon accepting the position he arrived to find that South Australia was almost bankrupt. He immediately cut back on government spending, a move criticised by his opponents. However hard the times proved to be, by 1844 Grey had balanced the colony's budgets.

That year he left for a post in New Zealand which he was to hold until 1861, when he was appointed governor of Cape Colony. He was returned to the governorship of New Zealand again and held his post until 1868. For two years he was premier of New Zealand and served in their parliament.

0 of a possible 0 points from 0 votes