Background
Lachlan Macquarie was born on the island of Ulva off the coast of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, a chain of islands off the West Coast of Scotland on January, 31 1762. Lachlan Macquarie was born of poor but aristocratic parents.
Lachlan Macquarie was born on the island of Ulva off the coast of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, a chain of islands off the West Coast of Scotland on January, 31 1762. Lachlan Macquarie was born of poor but aristocratic parents.
If he did attend the Royal High School of Edinburgh, "as tradition has it", it was only for a very brief period because, at the same age, he volunteered for the army.
He became governor in 1809, when New South Wales was primarily a convict camp. When he left 13 years later, the colony was well on the way to becoming self-governing.
He joined the British Army in 1776 and served in North America and later in India. Macquarie rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and spent a short period in London as assistant adjutant general.
In 1809 he was ordered with his regiment to New South Wales, which then comprised the whole east coast of Australia. On the eve of departure, owing to the withdrawal of another man, he was appointed governor of the colony, a position he held until his return to London in 1822.
Macquarie encouraged parolees and former convicts to become farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. He built roads and public buildings, using the genius of the ex-convict architect Francis Greenaway, many of whose elegant Georgian structures still stand. He fostered exploration, and when William Wentworth and his party explored the Blue Mountains, Macquarie soon followed them and laid out Bathurst, the first inland town. He also promoted religious toleration and tried to prevent brutal treatment of the aborigines.
Macquarie made powerful enemies, especially among the free settlers, led by John Macarthur, who opposed his policy of encouraging the social aspirations of ex-convicts. He got little backing from the home government and in 1818 tried to resign. However, he was compelled to remain until an inquiry into his administration was made by John T. Bigge, a commissioner from England. Bigge listened mainly to the governor's enemies, and the inquiry ended in Macquarie's humiliation. Some amends were made on his return to England in 1822, but during his lifetime he did not receive just recognition for his achievements.
He was a humane man and a good administrator, and he soon became an enthusiastic believer in the future greatness of the colony.
In 1793 he married Jane Jarvis, daughter of the Chief Justice of Antigua. Three years later she died of tuberculosis.