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Lachlan Macquarie

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image:lachlanmacquarie.jpg thumb|300px|Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales Major General '''Lachlan Macquarie''' (31 January, 1762–1 July, 1824), United Kingdom British military officer and colonial administrator, served as Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of that colony. Historians assess his influence on the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement as being crucial to the shaping of Australian society. Lachlan Macquarie was born in the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, a chain of islands off the West Coast of Scotland. He joined the 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) Army in 1776 and served in North America, India and Egypt. After serving for 12 years as a Captain he considered leaving the Army, but his fortunes changed in 1808 when he was appointed Governor of New South Wales. He was given a mandate to restore government and discipline in the colony following the Rum Rebellion against Governor William Bligh. The British government decided to reverse its practice of appointing naval officers as Governor and appoint an army commander on the hope that he could secure the co-operation of the unruly New South Wales Corps.

As Governor
Macquarie was a conservative disciplinarian who believed, in the words of the historian Manning Clark, "that the Protestantism Protestant religion and United Kingdom British institutions were indispensable both for liberty and for a high material civilisation." When he arrived in Sydney in December 1809, he found a struggling, chaotic colony which was still basically a prison camp, with barely 5,000 European inhabitants. Macquarie ruled the colony as an enlightened despot, breaking the power of the Army officers such as John Macarthur (wool pioneer) John Macarthur, who had been the colony's ''de facto'' ruler since Bligh's overthrow. Macquarie made it clear that he had a vision for Australia's future. He ordered the construction of roads, bridges, wharves, churches and public buildings. The oldest surviving buildings in Sydney, such as the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney Hyde Park Barracks, have his name inscribed on their porticoes. He appointed magistrates to outlying posts such as Van Diemen's Land and the Bay of Islands (now New Zealand). He founded new towns such as Richmond, New South Wales Richmond, Windsor, New South Wales Windsor, Pitt Town, New South Wales Pitt Town, Liverpool, New South Wales Liverpool and Castlereagh, New South Wales Castlereagh. He appointed a Colonial Secretary, a government printer and a government architect. All these actions reflected his view that New South Wales, despite its origins as a penal settlement, was now to be seen as a part of the British Empire, where a free people would live and prosper and eventually govern themselves. On a visit of inspection to the settlement of Hobart Hobart Town on the Derwent River in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Macquarie was appalled at the ramshackle arrangement of the town and ordered the government surveyor John Meehan to survey a regular street layout. This survey determined the form of the current centre of the city of Hobart. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 brought a renewed flood of both convicts and settlers to New South Wales, as the sealanes became free and as the rate of unemployment and crime in Britain rose (as they always did when armies and navies were demobilised). Macquarie presided over a rapid increase in population and in economic activity - by the time of his departure the population had reached 35,000. The colony began to have a life beyond its functions as a penal settlement, and an increasing proportion of the population earned their own living. All this, in Macquarie's eyes, made a new social policy necessary.

As reformer and explorer
Central to Macquarie's policy was his treatment of the emancipists: convicts whose sentences had expired or who had been given conditional or absolute pardons. By 1810 these outnumbered the free settlers, and Macquarie insisted that they be treated as social equals. He set the tone himself by appointing emancipists to government positions: Francis Greenway as colonial architect and Dr William Redfern as colonial surgery surgeon. He scandalised settler opinion by appointing an emancipist, Andrew Thompson (jurist) Andrew Thompson, as a magistrate, and by inviting emancipists to tea at Government House. In exchange, Macquarie demanded that the ex-convicts live reformed lives, and in particular insisted on proper marriages. Macquarie was the greatest sponsor of exploration the colony had yet seen. In 1813 he sent Gregory Blaxland Blaxland, William Wentworth Wentworth and William Lawson Lawson across the Blue Mountains, where they found the great plains of the interior. There he ordered the establishment of Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst, Australia's first inland city. He appointed John Oxley as surveyor-general and sent him on expeditions up the coast of New South Wales and inland to find new rivers and new lands for settlement. Oxley discovered the rich Northern Rivers and New England (Australia) New England regions of New South Wales, and in what is now Queensland he explored the present site of Brisbane. Explorers soon learned that the Governor liked things named after him: so Australia has the Macquarie River and Mount Macquarie, Lake Macquarie and Port Macquarie, New South Wales Port Macquarie, Macquarie Harbour and Macquarie Island. Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales Elizabeth Bay and Mrs Macquarie's Chair (a headland in Sydney Harbour) are named for his wife. Macquarie's own contribution to Australian nomenclature was the name "Australia," suggested by Matthew Flinders but first used in an official despatch by Macquarie in 1817. Macquarie's policies, especially his championing of the emancipists and the lavish expenditure of government money on public works, aroused opposition both in the colony and in London, where the government still saw New South Wales as a place to dump convicts and not as a future dominion of the Empire. His statement, in a letter to the Colonial Secretary, that "free settlers in general... are by far the most discontented persons in the country," and that "emancipated convicts, or persons become free by servitude, made in many instances the best description of settlers," was much held against him. Image:BreastplateCobornJackey.jpg thumb|Brass breast plate presented to the Aboriginal leader Coborn Jackey of the Burrowmunditory tribe by the squatter James White in the district of present day [[Young, New South Wales.]] Macquarie is regarded as having been ambivalent towards the Australian Aborigines. He ordered punitive expeditions against the aborigines. However, when dealing with friendly tribes, he developed a strategy of nominating a 'chief' to be responsible for each of the clans, identified by the wearing of a brass breast-plate engraved with his name and title. Although this was a typically European way of negotiation, it often did reflect the actual status of elders within tribes. [http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/a_forming/wntref_oghabor.html]

Return to Scotland, death and legacy
Leaders of the free settler community, such as Wentworth and Macarthur, complained to London about Macquarie's policies, and in 1819 the government appointed an English judge, John Bigge, to visit New South Wales and report on its administration. Bigge generally agreed with the settlers' criticisms, and his reports on the colony led to Macquarie's resignation in 1821: he had however served longer than any other governor. Bigge also recommended that no governor should again be allowed to rule as an autocrat, and in 1825 the New South Wales Legislative Council, Australia's first legislative body, was appointed to advise the governor. Macquarie returned to Scotland, and died in London in 1824 while busy defending himself against Bigge's charges. But his reputation continued to grow after his death, especially among the emancipists and their descendants, who were the majority of the Australian population until the gold rushes. Today he is regarded by many as the real founder of Australia as a country, rather than as a prison camp. The nationalist school of Australian historians have treated him as a proto-nationalist hero. His grave in Mull is maintained at the expense of the National Trust of Australia and is inscribed "The Father of Australia." As well as the many geographical features named after him in his lifetime, he is commemorated by Macquarie University in Sydney, which publishes the ''Macquarie Dictionary''. Macquarie was buried on the Isle of Mull in a remote mausoleum with his wife and son.

Places named after Macquarie
Many places in Australia have been named in Macquarie's honour. These include: At the time of his governorship or shortly thereafter: *Macquarie Island between Tasmania and Antarctica *Lake Macquarie on the coast of New South Wales between Sydney and Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle renamed after Macquarie in 1826 *Macquarie River a significant inland river in New South Wales which passes Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst, Wellington, New South Wales Wellington, Dubbo, New South Wales Dubbo and Warren, New South Wales Warren before entering the Macquarie Marshes and the Barwon River (New South Wales) Barwon River. *Lachlan River, another significant river in New South Wales *Port Macquarie, a city at the mouth of the Hastings River on the North Coast, New South Wales. *Around Sydney: **Macquarie Street, Sydney Macquarie Street, one of the principal streets of downtown Sydney, home of the New South Wales Parliament **Macquarie Place a small park in the Sydney CBD **Macquarie Lighthouse, Australia's first and longest operating navigational light **The former Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point, New South Wales Bennelong Point **Macquarie Fields, New South Wales Macquarie Fields, now a suburb of Sydney but named by surveyor Evans after the governor[http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name/extract?id=anYbvqsyMa] *In Tasmania: **Macquarie Street, Hobart Macquarie Street, one of the principal streets of Hobart, Tasmania **Macquarie Harbour on the west coast of Tasmania **Lachlan, Tasmania Lachlan a small town named by Sir John Franklin in 1837[http://www.wwt.com.au/townsl.htm] **Macquarie River, Tasmania Macquarie River *Macquarie Hill, formerly known as Mount Macquarie, in Wingecarribee Shire, Southern Highlands, New South Wales *Macquarie Pass National Park Macquarie Pass, north-east of Robertson, New South Wales *Macquarie Pier, built in 1818 on the Hunter River for the port of Newcastle, a breakwater linking Coal Island, now known as Nobby's Head, to the mainland at South Head (now Fort Scratchley) *The Macquarie Arms Hotel at Windsor, New South Wales built in 1815 and, apart from the period between 1840-1874, used continuously as a hotel. Windsor also contains a Macquarie Street. *Several Civil parishes in Dubbo, near Bathurst and Hastings are named after Macquarie *Mull: The Macquarie connection is distinguished, in particular, by the extremely large number of place names in New South Wales and Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) whose origins are derived from locations and features on the Isle of Mull and its environs. Macquarie used his governorship as an opportunity to commemmorate, through nostalgic place names, the places and personal associations that he had kept with Mull since his boyhood. Place names include: **Glenorchy, Tasmania **Hamilton, Tasmania[http://www.wwt.com.au/townshi.htm] **North Esk River North Esk and South Esk River South Esk Rivers Many years after his governorship: *Macquarie Park, New South Wales Macquarie Park and Macquarie Links, New South Wales Macquarie Links, suburbs of Sydney. *Macquarie, Australian Capital Territory Macquarie, a suburb of Canberra, Australia *Division of Macquarie, one of the 75 first Australian House of Representatives electoral Divisions created for the new Federation of Australia Places named after or in honour of Macquarie's wife, Elizabeth ( nee Campbell 1778-1835): *Elizabeth Street, Hobart Elizabeth Street, another of the principal streets of Hobart, Tasmania named after Macquarie's wife *Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales Elizabeth Bay a bay of Port Jackson and suburb of Sydney *Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a rock cut into a chair/bench shape on a peninsula that is part of Port Jackson Sydney Harbour and forms part of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens, at the end of Mrs. Macquarie's Road *Campbelltown, New South Wales, a town founded in 1820, one of a series of settlements south-west of Sydney being established by Macquarie at that time *Meredith Island off the coast of New South Wales was named after Elizabeth Macquarie's close friend[http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/places/placesl_q.html] *Campbell Town, Tasmania[http://www.wwt.com.au/townsc.htm] *Elizabeth River, Tasmania Elizabeth River, Tasmania[http://www.wwt.com.au/townsc.htm] *Elizabeth Town, Tasmania[http://www.wwt.com.au/townse.htm] Institutions named after Macquarie: *Macquarie University, Sydney *Macquarie Bank, an investment bank founded in 1970 {{start box}} {{succession box|title=Governor of New South Wales .html">William Bligh after=Thomas Brisbane | years=1810-1821}} {{end box}} Category:Governors of New South Wales Macquarie, Lachlan Category:1762 births Macquarie, Lachlan Category:1824 deaths Macquarie, Lachlan Category:Natives of Argyll and Bute Macquarie, Lachlan Category:Scottish soldiers Macquarie, Lachlan Category:City founders Macquarie, Lachlan de:Lachlan Macquarie es:Lachlan Macquarie pt:Lachlan Macquarie

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