Bill, Did you try http://www.hawkesburyhistory.org.au/articles/macquarie.html The Governor of New South Wales Merry Christmas to all and Lang May Yir Lums Reek Jenny Lake Macquarie NSW Aus - named for Lachlan Macquarie (our Lums centainly won't be Reekin' over Christmas with the expected hot temps!) I was sent some snow pics from SSX Ray, a cold Christmas would be something quite different for us folks downunder, that is other than those who live in Tasmania and experience snow on Mt. Wellington, Hobart on Christmas Day. Lachlan Macquarie (1761-1824) The year 1810 saw his arrival in the Colony of New South Wales, just after Lachlan Macquarie was installed governor of New South Wales, sealers stumbled on a remote Southern Ocean island so naturally the island took his name. The island like so many other institutions, structures and places bear testimony to the claim Macquarie "Father of the Nation" Macquarie was born on the island of Ulva in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, on 31st January 1761. His father was a carpenter by trade who around 1772 moved his wife and family to Mull, where he leased 75 acres from the Duke of Argyll. Lachlan Macquarie, was a cousin of the sixteenth and last chieftain of the clan Macquarie, while Macquarie's mother, Margaret, (1728-1810) was the only sister of Murdoch Maclaine, chieftain of Lochbuy in Mull. She bore her husband at least seven children - six sons, of whom four survived: Donald (1750-1800), Lachlan (1761-1824), Charles (1771-1835), and Hector (d.1778) - and a daughter, Elizabeth. His uncle Murdoch paid for his education and in 1776 at age 15, young Lachlan volunteered for British Army as a volunteer. In 1777 young Lachlan became an ensign in the 2nd battalion of the 84th Regiment, known as the Royal Highland Emigrants, and served in Canada at Halifax and other parts of Nova Scotia. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the 71st Regiment in January 1781 and performed garrison duty in New York and Charleston at the closing stages of the American War of Independence. In June 1783 he was transferred to Jamaica and 12 months later he was placed on half pay. Returning to Scotland, Macquarie for the next few years, lived a farmer's life with his mother and siblings at Oskamull, on Mull, before taking up a lieutenant's commission in 1787 in the 77th Regiment, beginning a long period in India, where he saw much active service in the struggle to gain control of the subcontinent for Britain. He also became military secretary to Jonathon Duncan, Governor of Bombay. In 1793 he married Jane Jarvis, the youngest daughter of Thomas Jarvis, Chief Justice and Member of Council of the Island of Antigua, but their marriage was brief - she died childless of tuberculosis at Macao, in China, in 1796. In 1801, while military secretary to Jonathon Duncan, Governor of Bombay, Macquarie appointed deputy-adjutant-general to the 8000-strong army under Major-General David Baird. He was sent to Egypt to expel the French. The army was engaged in little action, but in Alexandria, Macquarie met his brother Charles, who was also a serving army officer. They discussed future plans for purchasing land on the Isle of Mull. On the 11th February 1802 Macquarie was promoted to major with the 86th Regiment He returned to England in 1803 to attend to financial matters and to enjoy the social whirl of London after so many years abroad. He was twice presented to the King and Queen, dined with the aristocracy, attended balls and the theatre, had his portrait painted by noted Cornish artist, John Opie, and finally, after 12 months, travelled to Scotland to visit family and friends. On 25th April 1805 Macquarie sailed for India where he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the 73rd Regiment. After serving in northern India until 1806 he undertook to return to Britain carrying government despatches. After sailing from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, where he narrowly escaped drowning, he then travelled overland to London via Baghdad, Moscow, and St Petersburg. Macquarie's main aim in returning to Britain was to marry his distant cousin Elizabeth Henrietta Campbell, of Airds, whom he had met in 1804 to whom he had been secretly engaged since March 1805. She had become impatient with his seeming delay, particularly when it became apparent that his tour of duty would be for four years. They married on the 3rd November 1807. The bride was 29, and the groom 46. She bore him a daughter, Jane, on the 15th September 1808, but unfortunately, the child died on the 5th December, the same year. In April 1809 Macquarie was appointed Governor of New South Wales, designated to take over from William Bligh (of the mutiny on the Bounty fame), whose controversial governorship ended with the "Rum Rebellion". Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie sailed with the 73rd Regiment from Portsmouth in the storeship Dromedary, escorted by H.M.S Hindostan, in May 1809, arriving at Port Jackson on the 28th December. He took up his commission as governor on the 1st January 1810. <<<<Snip>>>>