Lachlan Macquarie
...ey p.182) It is an important point to realise that Macquarie was faced with real economic problems which forced him to spend in order of the colony to grow; two in particular stand out. That of the increasing number of arriving convicts and agricultural dilemmas. With the increased number of male convicts arriving in NSW Macquarie needed to continue building so that the convicts' labour would compensate for their maintenance costs. As stated by Macquarie "the influx of male convicts for the last five years has been so great, and so very far exceeding that of former years, that the settlers had not employment for above 1/8 of the number that annually arrived in the colony; the remaining 7/8 being left to be maintained and employed by government. Hence it became necessary to employ this large surplus of men in some useful manner, so that their labour might in some degree cover the expense of feeding and clothing." (Crowley p.290) Farming provided reoccurring problems to the government, as stated: "There was constant struggle against famine, largely due to ruin of crops by the frequent floods, and the fact that no public grainary existed; and in addition to a lack of settlers with agricultural experience there was a great shortage of farming tools." (Clair p.37 & 38) Macquarie's building and expansion was an effort to develop the Colony as a whole not for personal gratification which would be the motive of a true spendthrift; proven in his efforts to expand the colony further than the city. Expanding out from the city not only encouraged trade but improved agriculture as Macquarie "advanced livestock to some of the settlers, and he tried to persuade them to move from lands that were especially liable to flooding." (Shaw & Nicholson p.14) Macquarie made huge progress outside Sydney as stated: "Eighty miles of turnpike roads and eighty miles of carriage roads were linking the various townships by 1822, not to mention the hundred mile road over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst. To the townships of Parramatta and Sydney were added Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond, Castlereagh, Pitt Town and Wilberforce...By the time he left, new churches with their rectories graced these country towns, there was a courthouse at Windsor and hospitals at Parramatta, Windsor and Liverpool; nine military and ten convict barracks had been built in the colony and the penal station at Newcastle had grown into a flourishing settlement." (Shaw etal p.13 & 14) Now as to the statement that Lachlan Macquarie was a 'moral prig' - I believe this is incorrect and feel that this opinion was held only by those of the time who were selfish and narrow minded viewing NSW as Britain instead of a country in its own right. Those being the settlers and Mr John Bigge (Commissioner of Inquiry into the state of the Colony of NSW). As previously stated a moral prig is someone who's morals are arrogant and annoying, yet over the twelve years that Macquarie governed his actions demonstrated a disposition of one "who wielded his power for the general good." (Clair p.90) Not only were his actions honourable as I will prove but Macquarie was noted as courteous to all. In the words of Dr. Reid: "His elegant condescending manners make everyone feel not only at ease, but as if each were in his own house." (Condescending in this era implies the waiving of any superiority of rank) (Clair p.91) Opposers to Macquarie labelled his actions as governor as 'autocratic' - yet it must be noted that "as in the case of his predecessors, Macquarie was sent out with the powers of an autocrat, responsible to nobody except for the far-off Secretary of State for the Home Department. His powers were no less than those of Bligh had been, which is to say almost limitless." (Clair p.35) Yet in his twelve years of office it "in very few instances do we hear of that autocratic power being misused by Lachlan Macquarie." (Clair p.90) The main argument against Macquarie's morals focuses on his treatment of emancipists compared to the settlers. It needs to be said that Macquarie always had the prosperity of the country in mind and to "change the country from that of a prison camp as he found it to a city needed to treat all as equals." (www.encylopedia 4u) It was Macquarie's aim to "advance the interests of the emancipists and their children in every possible way" (Clair p.47) and the settlers were not happy about this at all as "the officers and wealthy settlers who tended to despise the convicts, who had little sympathy with them and regarded them as fit for nothing except to work as labourers for their betters." (Shaw & Nicholson p. 14) Once convicts had served their sentence Macquarie felt they should be "restored to society" (Shaw etal p.15) As stated: "He set the tone himself by appointing emancipists to government positions: Francis Greenway as colonial architect and Dr William Redfern as colonial surgeon. He scandalised settler opinion by appointing an emancipist, 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 ma...