Elizabeth Macarthur

by Michelle Scott Tucker

  Elizabeth Macarthur High School is a selective and community high school. The school serves the Narellan area, near Camden Park. Elizabeth’s family is also memorialised in many place names throughout New South Wales. The Australian electoral division of Macarthur, which encompasses the area around Camden Park, was named after Elizabeth and John Macarthur. A small township west of Melbourne is also called Macarthur and was named, in 1857, for Elizabeth’s son General

  Edward Macarthur, as was Macarthur Street in East Melbourne.

  In 1966, when Australia converted to decimal currency, John Macarthur was featured on the two-dollar note. The note was issued until 1988, when it was replaced by the two-dollar coin. In 1995 Elizabeth Macarthur was commemorated on a collectors-edition five-dollar coin, part of a set celebrating colonial Australia.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing a book is not nearly the solitary activity I imagined it might be.

  The Australian literary community provided me with solid support and vital networks. Writers Victoria introduced me to a whole new world of writers and writing. My shortlisting for the Hazel Rowley fellowship provided much needed validation and motivation. I spent two weeks in the Blue Mountains at Varuna, as the recipient of a residential fellowship. In Canberra I was accepted into the ACT Writers Centre’s HARDCOPY professional development program for writers. This program, and the marvellous people I’ve met through it, was my literary launch pad.

  In 2014 I visited Elizabeth Macarthur’s birthplace: Bridgerule. I could not have received a warmer welcome. My thanks to all I met, including Rose Hitchings, who was almost as excited as I was to find the gravestones of Elizabeth Macarthur’s parents and sister. Diana Green who generously shared her knowledge, pictures and research. The owners of the Glebe—now a beautiful B&B, but once the home of Elizabeth’s best friend Bridget Kingdon. David and Vivienne Hale, owners of Lodgeworthy Farm (where Elizabeth Macarthur was born), who kindly invited me into their home, shared their information about Elizabeth and provided the most delicious afternoon tea. The spritely octogenarian, Mr Bowden, who showed me through St Bridget’s church and then rang the church bells for me. And last and best of all, Bridgerule local Sheila Cholwill who invited me, a complete stranger, into her home and spent days showing me around the village. Sheila and her husband Colin’s generosity and thoughtfulness will stay with me for a very long time.

  In the course of writing this book it became very clear to me that people who love books are my kind of people. Every single librarian I came across was unfailingly helpful. Perhaps the collective noun should be a kindness of librarians. At Sydney Living Museums Jacky Dalton and Jacqui Newling were lovely. My grateful thanks also to Edwina and John Macarthur-Stanham. Through my online blog (Adventures in Biography) I made many new bookish friends, who were lavish with their support and information. Shout outs to fellow bloggers Whispering Gums, ANZLitlovers, the Australian Legend, and A Biographer in Perth. Special mentions to Dr Marion Diamond at Historians Are Past Caring, family historian Roger Kingdon, and to biographer Bernice Barry—who all were incredibly generous with their information, insights and expertise.

  Special thanks to my agent Jacinta di Mase, my editor Jane Pearson and my publisher at Text, Michael Heyward. You were all willing to take a punt on me and in so doing changed my life.

  Thank you to my brilliant day-job colleagues at ACIG (www.acig.com.au): Gerard Colla, Euan Lockie, Linda Hall, Tom Dale, Jo Lim, Tracey Hind and Erin Louis. You make working a pleasure and you provided unwavering support and enthusiasm for the book, even when my own motivation flagged.

  The encouragement of friends, family and colleagues also made a big difference. Few of you stepped inside my home, or welcomed me into yours, without gently asking how the book was going—which meant more to me than you might imagine. Many thanks to all my friends, old and new. Particular commendation to Jane McKenzie, whose willing participation in my Sydney research adventures truly helped me over the line, and to Samantha Comte, for always being there for me.

  And thank you most of all to my wonderful husband Tim and our beautiful children: Charlie, Will and Ashlee. I could never have done it without you.

  Michelle Scott Tucker lives on a small farm in Victoria with her husband and children. She owns and operates a management consulting company. Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World is her first book.

  Select Bibliography

  American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, vA, 2013.

  Atkinson, A., The Political Life of James Macarthur, PhD thesis, 1976.

  Atkinson, A. ‘John Macarthur Before Australia Knew Him’, Journal of Australian Studies, No 4, Melbourne, June 1979.

  Atkinson, A., Camden: Farm and Village Life in Early New South Wales, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1988.

  Atkinson, A., The Europeans in Australia: A History, volume One, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998.

  Atkinson, A., ‘The Moral Basis of Marriage’, Push from the Bush 2, Melbourne, 1978.

  Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, .

  Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal, No. 58, 2009.

  Badger, J., ‘The Lamentable Death of Lady Mary Fitzroy’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Sydney, December, 2001.

  Barani, Sydney’s Aboriginal History, .

  Bassett, M., The Governor’s Lady: Mrs Philip Gidley King, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1992.

  Bickel, L., Australia’s First Lady, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991.

  Binney, K.R., Horsemen of the First Frontier (1788–1900) and The Serpents Legacy, volcanic Productions, Sydney, 2005.

  Blainey, G., The Tyranny of Distance, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1980.

  Bown, S., Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2003.

  Bradley, W., A Voyage to New South Wales: The Journal of Lieutenant William Bradley R.N. of HMS Sirius 1786-1792, Australian Digital Collections, University of Sydney.

  Bridgerule Parish Registers—Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, transcribed by J. Upton. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DEv/Bridgerule.

  Broadbent, J. and Hughes, J., Elizabeth Farm Parramatta: A history and a guide, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, Sydney, 1984.

  Broadbent, J., The Australian Colonial House: architecture and society in New South Wales 1788-1842, Hordern House, Sydney, 1997.

  Brooke, A., & Brandon, D., Bound for Botany Bay: British Convict Voyages to Australia, National Archives (UK), London, 2005.

  Brown, A.J., Ill-Starred Captains: Flinders and Baudin, Crawford House, Adelaide, 2000. Carruthers, F., The Horse in Australia, Knopf, Sydney, 2008.

  Clarke, P., A Colonial Woman: The Life and Times of Mary Braidwood Mowle, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991.

  Clarke, P. & Spender, D. (eds), Life Lines: Australian Women’s Letters and Diaries 1788 to 1840, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1992.

  Clendinnen, i., Dancing with Strangers, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2005.

  Cochrane, P., Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2006.

  Cohen, L., Elizabeth Macquarie: Her Life and Times, Wentworth Books, Sydney, 1979.

  Coleman, D. (ed), Maiden Voyages and Infant Colonies, Leicester University Press, London, 1999.

  Collingridge, v., Captain Cook: The Life, Death and Legacy of History’s Greatest Explorer, Ebury Press, London, 2003.

  Collins, D., An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales 1788 to 1801, 1802, .

  Connor, J., The Australian Frontier Wars 1788–1838, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2002.

  Currey, J., David Collins: A Colonial Life, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2000.

&nbs
p; Dando-Collins, S., Captain Bligh’s Other Mutiny, Random House Australia, Sydney, 2007.

  Daniels, K., Convict Women, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998.

  Davidoff, L. & Hall, C., Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780–1850, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987.

  Day, M., Voices from the World of Jane Austen, David & Charles, Cincinnati, 2006.

  De vries, S., Strength of Spirit: Pioneering Women of Achievement from First Fleet to Federation, Millenium Books, Sydney, 1995.

  De vries-Evans, S., Pioneer Women Pioneer Land: Yesterday’s Tall Poppies, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1987.

  Dictionary of Sydney, .

  Duffy, M., Man of Honour, Macmillan Australia, Sydney, 2003.

  Dyer, C., The French Explorers and Sydney, UQP, Brisbane, 2009.

  Egan, J. (ed), Buried Alive: Sydney 1788–92 Eyewitness Accounts of the Making of a Nation, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1999.

  Elder, B., Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788, 3rd Edition, New Holland Publishers, Sydney, 2003.

  Ellis, M.H., John Macarthur, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1978.

  Estensen, M. (ed), The Letters of George & Elizabeth Bass, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2009.

  Evatt, H.v., Rum Rebellion, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1975.

  Falbe, J., My Dear Miss Macarthur: Recollections of Emmeline Maria Macarthur 1828–1911, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1988.

  Flannery, T. (ed), The Birth of Sydney, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1999.

  Flannery, T. (ed), The Explorers, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2000.

  Flynn, M., The Second Fleet: Britain’s Grim Convict Armada of 1790, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1993.

  Frost, A., Botany Bay Mirages, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1995.

  Gammage, B., The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2011.

  Geraghty, R.C.R., A Change in Circumstance: Individual Responses to Colonial Life, thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006.

  Graham, J.R., A Treatise on the Australian Merino, Clarson, Massina & Co, Melbourne, 1870.

  Grimshaw, P., Lake, M., McGrath, A., Quartly, M., et al., Creating a Nation, McPhee Gribble, Melbourne, 1994.

  Groom, L., A Steady Hand: Governor Hunter & His First Fleet Sketch Book, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2012.

  Hadlow, J., The Strangest Family: The Private Lives of George III, Queen Charlotte and the Hanoverians, William Collins, London, 2015.

  Hill, S., Paper Houses: John Macarthur and the 30-year Design Process of Camden Park, PhD thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2016.

  Hirst, J.B., Convict Society and Its Enemies, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983.

  Hirst, J.B., Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, Black inc, Melbourne, 2006.

  Hirst, J.B., Freedom on the Fatal Shore: Australia’s First Colony, Black inc, Melbourne, 2008.

  Historical Records of New South Wales (HRNSW), vol. 1 and 2,

  Holmes, K., et al., Reading the Garden: The Settlement of Australia, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2008.

  Hughes, J., The Macarthurs: A Brief Family History, Historic Houses Trust NSW, Sydney, 1984.

  Hughes, J., John Macarthur and the Wool Industry, Historic Houses Trust NSW, Sydney, 1984.

  Hughes, J., ‘The Macarthur Collection: its Contribution to Australian Historiography’, Elizabeth Farm Bicentennial Seminar, 24 October 1993.

  Hughes, J. (ed), The Journal and Letters of Elizabeth Macarthur 1789–1798, Historic Houses Trust NSW, Sydney, 1984.

  Karskens, G., The Colony: A History of Early Sydney, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2009.

  Karskens, G. and Waterhouse, R., ‘Too Sacred to Be Taken Away: Property, Liberty, Tyranny and the Rum Rebellion’ [online]. Journal of Australian Colonial History, vol. 12, 2010.

  Keneally, T., A Commonwealth of Thieves, Anchor Books, New York, 2007.

  Kercher, B., Debt, Seduction and Other Disasters: The Birth of Civil Law in Convict New South Wales, The Federation Press, Sydney, 1996.

  Kerr Forsyth, H., Remembered Gardens: Eight Women and Their Visions of an Australian Landscape, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2006.

  King, H., Elizabeth Macarthur and Her World, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1980.

  King, J. & King, J., Phillip Gidley King: A Biography of the Third Governor of New South Wales, Methuen Australia, Sydney, 1981.

  Kingdon, A.S., The Kingdon Family: A Second Look, self-published, 1974.

  Kingdon, R.D., The Origin of the Kingdons, Brown Dog Books and The Self-Publishing Partnership, Sydney, 2017.

  Kloester, J., Georgette Heyer’s Regency World, Arrow Books, London, 2005.

  Lancaster, G., The First Fleet Piano: A Musician’s View, ANU Press, Canberra, 2015.

  Lavery, B., Jack Aubrey Commands: An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O’Brian, with Peter Weir, Conway Maritime Press, London, 2003.

  Levi, J.S. & Bergman, G.F.J., Australian Genesis: Jewish Convicts and Settlers 1788–1850, Rigby, Adelaide, 1974.

  Macarthur-Onslow, J. W., ‘Told Me by Sir William Macarthur, My Great Uncle’, in Recollections by J. W. Macarthur–Onslow, AiATSiS Library.

  Macarthur-Onslow, S., The Macarthurs of Camden, Rigby, Adelaide, 1973.

  Macarthur Papers, First and Second Collections, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

  Marsden Online Archive, . Massy, C., The Australian Merino, viking O’Neil, Melbourne,1990.

  McCalman, i. (ed), An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age: British Culture 1776–1832, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999.

  Morgan, S., Bombay Anna, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 2008.

  Mrs E., Advice to a Young Lady in the Colonies, Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne, 1979.

  Mundle, R., Bligh: Master Mariner, Hachette, Sydney, 2010.

  Mundle, R., Flinders: The Man who Mapped Australia, Hachette, Sydney, 2013.

  Naval Chronicle, vol. XXii, July–December, 1809.

  Nicholas, F.W. & Nicholas, J.M., Charles Darwin in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008.

  O’Brian, P., Joseph Banks, A Life, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1993.

  Pascoe, B., Convincing Ground: Learning to Fall in Love with Your Country, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2007.

  Pembroke, M., Arthur Phillip: Sailor, Mercenary, Governor, Spy, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2013.

  Philbrick, N., In the Heart of the Sea: the epic true story that inspired Moby Dick, Flamingo, London, 2000.

  Phillip, A., et al, The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay,

  Porter, R., English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Penguin Books, Melbourne, 1988.

  Rees, S., The Floating Brothel, Hodder, Sydney, 2001.

  Reynolds, H., Frontier, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1996.

  Reynolds, H., Forgotten War, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, 2013.

  Roberts, B. (ed), Miss D & Miss N: An Extraordinary Partnership, Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2009.

  Robinson, P., The Women of Botany Bay, The Macquarie Library, Sydney, 1998.

  Russell, P., For Richer, For Poorer: Early Colonial Marriages, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1994.

  Russell, P., Wish of Distinction: Colonial Gentility and Femininity, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1994.

  Smee, C.J., Born in the English Colony of New South Wales 1788–1800, self published, 2009.

  Stapleton, E., Anna Josepha King: Governor King’s Wife, St Mary’s Historical Society, Sydney, 1981.

  Stone, L., The Family Sex and Marriage in England 1500–1800, Harper & Row, New York, 1977.

  Summers, A., Damned Whores and God’s Police, Penguin Books Australia, Melbourne, 1994.

  Tench, W., 1788: A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Ja
ckson, Text Publishing, Melbourne, 2009.

  Tench, W., A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, J. Nichol, 1793

  Tomalin, C., Jane Austen: A Life, viking, London, 1997.

  Tuckey, J.H. (James Hingston 1776–1816), Account of a Voyage to Establish a Colony at Port Phillip in Bass’s Strait, 1805, .

  vickery, A., The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England, Yale University Press, London, 1998.

  Walsh, D. (ed), The Admiral’s Wife: Mrs Phillip Parker King, The Hawthorne Press, Melbourne, 1967.

  Walsh, R. (ed), In Her Own Words: The Writings of Elizabeth Macquarie, Macquarie University Press, Sydney, 2011.

  Wannan, B., Early Colonial Scandals: The Turbulent Times of Samuel Marsden, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne, 1972.

  Wantrup, J., ‘The voyage of the First Fleet’, The La Trobe Journal, No. 41, Autumn, 1988.

  Whitaker, A., Distracted Settlement: New South Wales After Bligh, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1998.

  Whitaker, A., ‘Mrs Paterson’s Keepsakes: The Provenance of Some Significant Colonial Documents and Paintings’, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 1 Dec 2004.

  Wright, C., Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2003.

  Yarwood, A.T., Samuel Marsden: The Great Survivor, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1977.

  Notes

  Letters to and from Elizabeth Macarthur, and between her immediate family members, can be found in the Macarthur Papers, First and Second Collections, Mitchell Library, Sydney. The sources for other letters and documents are provided in the notes below.

  Transcripts of some of the Macarthur letters can be found in:

  Hughes, J. (ed), The Journal and Letters of Elizabeth Macarthur 1789–1798, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney, 1984.