Spencer was appointed to the chair of biology at the University of Melbourne in 1887 and having married Mary Elizabeth (Lillie) Bowman just prior to embarkation. He was involved with the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria and the Royal Society of Victoria.Spencer was honorary director of the National Museum of Victoria in 1899 and involved with the transfer of the ethnological collection to Russell Street.

As zoologist and photographer he participated in the 1894 Horn Scientific Explolration Expedition to Central Australia and edited all four volumes of the resultant report. In 1896 he joined FJ Gillen (AA 108) in intensive field work resulting in the publication of "The Native Tribes of Central Australia" in 1899.

He donated his ethnographic collection to the National Museum of Victoria in 1917

See also for further images and narrative relating to the Spencer/Gillen collaboration.
This website has been developed as collaboration between Museum Victoria, the South Australian Museum, the Australian National University, the Northern Territory Library, Australian Capital Equity and the Barr Smith Library with the support of the Australian Research Council.
© Reconstructing the Spencer and Gillen Collection Project
http://spencerandgillen.net/institutions/4fac6980023fd704f475b5c0.