Lachlan Macquarie : his life, adventures, and times

Ellis, M. H.1973

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Summary

M. H. Ellis's 'Lachlan Macquarie' is the definitive biography of one of the greatest figures in Australian history: the Scottish soldier who ruled the continent from 1810 to 1821, and who endowed it with its first organised finance and commerce, its first inland exploration and settlement, its first highways and paved streets, its first fine architecture, and its first official patronage of the arts and literature.Macquarie's life makes an absorbing story, as it moves from his boyhood in the Hebrides to his military career in the exotic world of 18th century India. But it is against the background of Australia - the vast unknown continent with the turbulent little comunity on its edge - that the full stature of his remarkable character is displayed. The breadth, energy and diversity of his activities, hampered though they were by the parsimony of the home Government, are astonishing to a modern reader. More striking still is the picture that emerges of a humanitarian who, whatever his faults and eccentricities, fought a long and steadfast battle to defend the under-dog - emancipist, convict or Aboriginal - against oppression.