The quality of the early settlers in South Australia, gave Sir George Grey great trust in the new Anglo-Saxondom to be built up in the south.  Many of them were Nonconformists, which suggested to him the Puritan founding of New England.  As a body they had a worth, a sincerity, a true ring which could not fail of fine records.  That knowledge helped him, in the difficult task of setting South Australia on its feet.  His policy of severe economy made shoes pinch, but he held on, ever ready with the courteous word for those who most assailed him.

He could contrast Adelaide, when town sites went at auction for about five pounds an acre, with the Adelaide of our day.  ‘If you had yourself,’ somebody put it to him, ’invested in a few of these sites, you would be rich instead of poor?’ The remark bore partly upon the enormously enhanced value of city lands all over Australia, partly upon Sir George’s simple unconcern for wealth, his disregard of mere money.  He was almost inclined to pity millionaires, as being among the afflicted.  The tinkle of gold was never in his golden dreams.

‘Yes,’ he answered, ’the land which sold for five pounds in Adelaide, might, at the present moment, be worth nearer five thousand.  Throughout my career, I followed a very strict rule in those matters.  I never had any dealings in land, or other property, except as Governor, charged with the interests of the whole community.  My despatches were my sole title-deeds.’

‘There is no virtue,’ he laid down, ’in honest duty, such as we claim from every public servant.  Our lofty ideal in that regard is true British wisdom.  Moreover, need a man, estimating wealth on its merits, care to be rich?  What private means I inherited, I have spent largely on public ends.  I mean, in particular, those libraries at Cape Town and Auckland, which I was enabled to help.  Why, the bargain is all mine; I am the debtor for the opportunity.’

To Sir George Grey, Oceana had seemed a fertile land, crying across the depths, ’Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’  His mission was to pass that invitation freely to the shores of the Old World, and to be vigilant on the spot, keeping a clear ring.  He did not want folks to come, only to find a path strewn with the obstacles and ills they thought to have left behind.  His purpose was to make life as generous, as unfettered as possible.  Keep the Old World out of the New!  It became a passion with him; and he counted on making the New World an influence towards regenerating the Old.  The line, in respect of both aims, was to retain the control of the New World for the Anglo-Saxon.  That meant freedom, because the non-intrusion of arrayed nations, which would hinder it.

When Greece needed a king, Sir George Grey was mentioned as one with likely parts for the post.  ‘I should think,’ wrote Freeman the historian, ’he would be just the man to deal with any unruly elements in the country.’  The absolute offer of the crown of Greece would not have tempted Sir George for an hour.