Lang Hancock - Rose Porteous

Rose Porteous

In 1983, the same year as Hope Hancock's death, Rose Lacson (now Porteous) arrived in Australia from the Philippines on a three-month working visa. By the arrangement of Hancock's daughter, Gina Rinehart, Porteous began working as a maid for the newly-widowed Lang Hancock.

Hancock and Porteous became romantically involved over the course of Porteous' employment and they were wed on 6 July 1985, in Sydney. It was a third marriage for each of them. Porteous, who was thirty-nine years younger than her husband, was often accused of gold digging because of their age disparity, as well as being unfaithful and promiscuous. As Porteous later stated: "I have been accused of sleeping with every man in Australia ... I would have been a very busy woman." Hancock's daughter, Gina Rinehart, who stood to inherit his entire estate, did not attend the wedding.

Although the marriage would later prove tumultuous, early on Hancock was clearly infatuated with his young wife. He gave her money and investments in real estate in the Sydney area. Porteous, in turn, helped Hancock to look and act like a much younger man, belying his eight decades. As The Age put it, "Rose made Lang feel younger, sprucing up his wardrobe, dying his hair and getting rid of his cane". Together they built the "Prix d'Amour", a lavish 16-block mansion overlooking the Swan River. The mansion, which was modelled after Tara, the plantation mansion from the movie Gone with the Wind, was the setting for many large parties at which Hancock and Porteous would "dance into the night."

As the marriage wore on, however, the relationship between Lang and Rose began to break down. Rinehart would later claim that Hancock's bride had paid little attention to his worsening health, but had instead "screeched at him for money". Although there were many quarrels, the Hancocks remained married until Lang's death in 1992.

On 25 June 1992, less than three months after Hancock's death, Porteous married for the fourth time, to Hancock's long-time friend William Porteous. Rinehart was indignant at the haste with which her stepmother had remarried.

The Prix d'Amour, built in 1990, was bulldozed in March, 2006.