A B C D E F

Aborigines, Australian

Sydney Region

There has been considerable controversy regarding the distribution and composition of Aboriginal tribes in the Sydney region at the time of first European settlement in 1788. Similarly, there is great difficulty at times in applying the word 'tribe' to the diversity of clan relationships in Aboriginal society in the Sydney region (as elsewhere). There is a problem of equating a tribe with a language; however, at the commencement of European settlement the Aboriginal people living in the region of Sydney (from the coast to the Blue Mountains and from the Hawkesbury River to Jervis Bay and Goulburn) included groups who spoke at least five different and distinct languages - Darug, Kuring-gai, Gundungurra, Darkinung, and Dharawal - and in some instances they spoke more than one dialect.

Macquarie's journals make no distinctions between the Aboriginal groups that he encountered during in his travels. His descriptions and observations are merely a tiny window into the complex layering of Aboriginal society - which most Europeans failed to recognise, and which disappeared before it could be fully recorded.

[see Related Topics: Australian Aboriginal Tribes]

Similarly, there are many difficulties and doubts in tracing the lives ofindividual Aborigines in the early colonial period. Records are incomplete and positive identification problematic, even with major figures such as Bennelong, Bungaree and Pemulwoy.

Macquarie Journals:

Cowpastures region
The earliest account relating to Aborigines living in the Cowpastures region where they appear as individuals dates from 1810 in Lachlan Macquarie's journal of his first tour of inspection. He lists nine adults as well as '4 or 5 children of different ages' who came to meet with him. They were:

Koggie - whom Macquarie called 'the Native Chief of the Cow-Pasture Tribe'.
Nantz and Mary - Koggie's two wives.
Bootbarrie
Mary - Bootbarrie's wife.
Young Bundle
Mandagerry
Jindle
Bill

See Profile for: Bootbarrie ,

Bathurst region
On 10 May 1815 the newly proclaimed town of Bathurst was visited by three Wiradjuri warriors led (probably) by an Aboriginal named Windradyne. Macquarie presented him and his two companions with a tomahawk and a yellow cloth, and in exchange Macquarie received a possum-skin cloak. The ceremonial exchange of gifts continued later in the afternoon when eleven warriors returned and each received a black leather cap, tomahawk and food from the storehouse. Relations at Bathurst remained cordial for some months after this visit.

Newcastle region
Macquarie mentions that 'Burigon King of the Newcastle native tribe' performed (with others of his tribe) a corroboree outside government house at Newcastle on the evening of 6 August 1818. Newcastle lies wholly within the territory of the Awabakal people. However no further historical details are available concerning the life of Burigon.

Port Stephens region
The Worimi tribe inhabited the Port Stephens region and consisted of the Baraigal, Gampingal, Garuegal, Grewerigal, Maiangal hordes. They shared a common language (Kattang), cultural traditions and social organisation. They were noted to be fairer in skin colour and taller and stouter in physique than Aborigines of the Port Jackson region.

Baraigal (Booray-gahl): inhabited an area on the western side of the Karuah River, north of the present-day township of Karuah
Gampingal: inhabited the area north of Port Stephens between the Karuah and Myall Rivers.
Garuegal: inhabited an area from the Hunter river in the south, Tilligerry Creek in the east, to the Karuah area.
Maiangal (Mayan-gahl): inhabited the Stockton bight area from the Hunter River north to the Tomaree Peninsular on the southern shores of Port Stephens (present-day Shoal Bay and Nelson's Bay).

Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

A

ALLAN, David (1780 - 1852)
Deputy-commissary-general and landholder.
First held land in the Airds District in 1815, and later received a grant at Red Point in the Illawarra region. This land came later into the possession of W. C. Wentworth and was called the Five Islands Estate. Allan never lived there. He left N.S.W. in 1819 but returned to the colony c.1829.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 p.5].

ALLMAN, Captain Francis (1780 -1860)
Soldier and public servant.
Arrived as Captain in the 48th Regt. on the Minerva,30 April 1818. He had a property,'Rathluba,'on the Hunter River but settled in the Yass district, where he died on 24 October 1860 aged 64. His wife, Sarah, was a daughter of James Wilson, a paymaster in the British Army. She died at Yass on February 6th 1864, aged 76.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.8-9].

ANTILL, Henry Colden (1779 - 1852)
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.21-22].

ARKELL, Thomas
Principal Overseer of Government Stock.

ARNDELL, Dr. Thomas (1753 - 1821)
Surgeon, magistrate and landholder.
Surgeon in the First Fleet, retired to become a settler and in 1804 received a grant of 600 acres at Cattai Creek; on the Hawkesbury River. He died there on 2 May 1821, aged 68.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 27-28].

ARNOLD, Dr. Joseph (1782 - 1818)
Surgeon, naturalist.
Naval surgeon on H.M. Hindostan, arriving in NSW in December 1809 with 73rd Regiment. Returned to Sydney in 1815. Strident critic of the Macquaries. Died in Sumatra on 26 July 1818.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.27-28].

B

BADGERY, James (1769 - 1827)
Arrived on the Walker in 1799, as servant to Colonel William Paterson. In 1803 he received a grant on the Nepean of 139 acres. In August 1809, Badgery received from Paterson 840 acres in the district of Bringelly, between Badgery's Creek and South Creek. This area was in the names of his children and was the farm visited by Macquarie in 1810. James Badgery died there in September 1827, aged 58.

BAIRD, Sir David (1757 -1829)
Soldier.
Scottish-born general who served and fought in campaigns in India, Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope, Denmark, and Spain. He was a prisoner for three years (1781-84) of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo Sultan in Mysore, India; led the attack against the city of Seringapatam (and his former captor, Tippoo Sultan) in 1799. Macquarie served on Baird's staff as deputy adjutant-general on the expedition to Egypt against the French in 1801-1802. He remained in contact with him and provided favours in the New South Wales to friends and contacts of the general, visited him in Scotland at Fern Town in 1823, and again in London in the final weeks before his death in 1824. Baird suffered major personal conflict and rivalry with Arthur Wellesley, (later Duke of Wellington), was knighted for his services overseas in 1804, was severely wounded at the Battle of Corunna in 1808 (when he had to have his left arm amputated), and became a full general in 1814.
[see: Dictionary of National Biography Vol.I pp.914-917].

BALFOUR, General Nisbet (1743 -1823)
Soldier.
Distinguished British general who entered the army as an ensign in the 4th Regiment in 1761. Served with distinction in the American War of Independence. Subsequently served in action against the French in Flanders in 1794. Made a general in 1803. Died at the age of 80 in October 1823. It was through the patronage of General Balfour that Macquarie was presented to Queen Charlotte on 26 May 1803 and whose hand he kissed.
[see: Dictionary of National Biography Vol.I pp.976-977].

BAYLEY, Sarah [nee Laycock] (1783-1820)
Wife of Nicholas Bayly (c.1769-1823).

BELL, Maria [nee Kitching] (c.1777-1841)
Wife of Lieutenant Archibald Bell, owner of 'Belmont', North Richmond. Their son Archibald Bell, Junior, discovered the "Bell s Line" - the northern route over the Blue Mountains.

BENT, Ellis (1783 -1815)
Judge-Advocate of NSW.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.87-92)

BENT, Jeffery (1781-1852)
Judge.
[see:Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.87-92)

BIGG, Joseph (BIGGE, BIGGS) (17?? - 1833)
Macquarie 's coachman. After Macquarie's departure he established a livery stables in Phillip Street, Sydney. He died on July 27th 1833, aged 65.
[see Profile: Joseph Bigg]

BIGGE, John Thomas (1780 - 1843)
Judge and royal commissioner.
Appointed as commissioner to fully investigate 'all the laws, regulations and usages of the settlements'in the colony of New South Wales.
Arrived in Sydney on 26 September 1819. Wide powers of investigation gave him the authority to act both as a public commissioner of the Crown and as private inquisitor for the government. Most galling of all for Macquarie was the fact that Bigge's instructions ordered Macquarie to comply with Bigge's directions, and to accord him precedence next to himself as governor.
[See: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.99 -101].

BIRCH, Mary(1792-1882)
Mary Arabella (nee Forbes), wife of Lieutenant John Birch (c.1782-1835), Paymaster of the 73rd Regiment (who was adjudged at one stage to be insane). Held 500 acres on the Nepean at Bringelly (near present-day Wallacia) adjacent to the 1265 acres held by Judge-Advocate Ellis Bent.
[see: Historical Records of Australia. Series I: Vol. 8, pp.4-5: Macquarie to Lord Bathurst, 31 July 1813.].

BLAXLAND, Gregory (1778 - 1853)
Settler, explorer
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.115 -117].

BLAXLAND, John (1769 - 1845)
Landowner and merchant.
Elder brother of Gregory Blaxland.
[See: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.117 -118].

BOWSER, Thomas
Thomas Bowser was a Private in the 48th Regiment, who was carried as a steerage passenger on board the Surry in 1822 during the Macquaries return voyage to England. No further details are currently available.

BRISBANE, Sir Thomas Makdougall (1773 - 1860)
Governor.
Appointed (in November 1820) to replace Lachlan Macquarie as governor of New South Wales. He arrived in the colony on 7 November 1821 and took up his viceregal duties on 1 December.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.151-154].

BROOKS, Captain Richard (1765? - 1833)
Sailor, merchant and settler.
Served for many years as an officer of the East India Company. He brought the chartered transports,Atlas (1802), and Alexander (1806), to Sydney. He then made trading voyages to New South Wales in the Rose(1808),Argo (1811), and Spring (1814). With the last he brought his wife and family and became a permanent settler. He acquired Denham Court from Richard Atkins in 1810, and there built his family residence. He amassed considerable landed property and wealth. He also held a farm of 1300 acres in Illawarra which he called 'Exmouth' or 'Koonawarra' which is the one referred to by Macquarie in 1822. However Brooks did not live here; he employed a manager to overseer the farm while he continued to live at Denham Court. He died at Denham Court in October 1833 and the Church of St. Mary the Virgin was erected there as his memorial.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.156-157].

BROUGHTON, William (1768 - 1821)
William Broughton arrived as servant to Surgeon John White in the First Fleet. He became a storekeeper at Norfolk Island and, later, Deputy Commissary General. In December 1810 he married Eliza Charlotte, Mrs. Roger Simpson, daughter of James Raworth Kennedy. She had arrived with her father on the Sovereign on 5 November 1795. William Broughton died on July 26th 1821 and Macquarie, who attended his funeral, ordered a tombstone to be placed on his grave at Liverpool. His widow died on 20 December 1843 at Wollongong, aged 63.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.157-158].

BROWNE, William (? - 1833)
Known as "Merchant Browne", of the firm of Browne & Turner of Calcutta. Arrived in the Mary 17 April 1816 and established a store in George Street, Sydney. He acquired the 'Abbotsbury' property at Cabramatta, land at Appin, and received grants totalling 3,800 acres in Illawarra. William Browne's farm was called 'Anthlin' or 'Yalla' and comprised 3,000 acres on the west side of the Lake Illawarra. Browne was in occupation before 1822 but the grant was made in 1823. He died in 1833.

BUTCHER, John
Servant.
Macquarie's reference to "Butcher" is almost certainly to John Butcher who, "late of 73rd Regt.", received a land order in 1816. This order was issued on 13 January 1818 as a grant of 40 acres, near Penrith, parish of Londonderry.
[see Profile: John Butcher]

BYRNE, Hugh
Political exile.
Arrived on the Tellicherry. Hugh Byrne was arrested by Governor Bligh in March 1807 and kept under restraint until May 1809, when Lieut.Governor Paterson granted him 100 acres adjoining the northern part of the town of Liverpool. A number of other Irish "exiles", who had been arrested after being accused of implication in Irish "risings" in N.S.W. were given grants of 100 acres each in this district by Paterson and their grants were confirmed by Macquarie on January 1st 1810. Of these "exiles", besides Hugh Byrne, Macquarie also mentions in his journals, Devlin, Dwyer, Fulton and Holt.

C

CAMPBELL, Ensign Duncan (1794 -1820)
Nephew of Elizabeth Macquarie.
Second eldest son of Margaret Campbell (c.1765-1845) [sister of Elizabeth Macquarie nee Campbell] and James Campbell of Glenfeachan (1760 -1808).
Arrived in NSW in December 1809 on board H.M. Storeship Dromedary. Promoted to Lieutenant 13 November 1810; served as Naval Officer at Hobart. Departed for Ceylon on 5 April 1814 on Windham. Died September 1820, buried near Trincomalee.
[see Profile: Duncan Campbell].

CAMPBELL, John
Paymaster to the 46th Regiment. Accompanied Macquarie on his tour of inspection to the Cowpastures region in October 1815.

CAMPBELL, Major John (1771-1827)
Distant relative of Elizabeth Macquarie through birth and marriage. Retired from the Lochend Royal Marines. Arrived with his wife Annabella (nee Campbell of Melfort) and family in Hobart Town on 29 October 1821 on board the Lusitania. The vessel had been chartered by several Scottish families (Campbell, Ranken, and Macleod) for passage to Australia. John Campbell sailed on to Sydney in late November 1821 without his family (who joined him in April 1822 on board the Castle Forbes) and received a land grant from Governor Brisbane at Eastern Creek [near present day Prospect, western Sydney] that he named 'Bungarribee.' It was 2000 acres in extent, and was bordered on the south by the Western Road, on the east by Flushcombe Road, and on the west by Eastern Creek.
His wife, Annabella, died on 11 November 1826 [aged 52] and John Campbell died eleven months later on 12 October 1827 [aged 57]. Both were buried in St. John's Cemetery, Parramatta.
[see: Magann, Hazel. They Left Their Mark Blacktown: Blacktown Historical Society, 1997 p.9; Bloxham, F. A History of Prospect. Blacktown: Blacktown Historical Society, 2002 pp.60-61].

CAMPBELL, John Thomas (c.1770 -1830)
Vice-regal secretary to Lachlan Macquarie.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.199 -201].

CARTWRIGHT, Rev. Robert (1771 -1856)
Arrived in Sydney on 27 February 1810 with his wife and six children. Appointed chaplain to the Hawkesbury district and new town of Windsor became the centre of his ministry. Transferred to Liverpool in 1819 and he accompanied Macquarie to Lake George in October 1820 and preached the first sermon at Lake Bathurst on 29 October.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.211 -212].

CHAMBERLAIN, Henry
Consul-General and Charge d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro, 8 April 1815 - 24 October 1819.
Chamberlain was succeeded by Edward Thornton (1819-1821) with rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. Following the return of the Portuguese Court to Lisbon 26 April 1821 Great Britain had had no further diplomatic representation at Rio de Janeiro until after the recognition of independence of Brazil; and all contact was maintained by a consul-general. Macquarie refers to Chamberlain as the 'Consul-General for Rio Janeiro', though in reality he must have been referring to his previous official position. It is clear from Macquarie's journal entries that William Pennell is the 'Consul' at St Salvador. In 1823 Henry Chamberlain was granted joint powers with Sir Charles Stuart to negotiate a commercial treaty with Brazil (signed 2 Jan. 1825); and he subsequently served in the position of Charge d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro from 10 May 1826 - 13 October 1826.

CHAPMAN, William Neate
Confidential secretary to Governor King, received from him, on February 10th 1804, a grant of 1,300 acres north of the present Penrith. His farm was called 'Lambridge'. In the same year, Chapman went to England and did not return to N.S.W.

CORDEAUX, William (1792 - 1839)
Land commissioner.
Arrived in Sydney in January 1818 on board the convict transport Friendship
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.246 -247].

COSGROVE, William (17?? - 1819)
Servant to Gregory Blaxland
Arrived on the Rolla in 1803. Accompanied Macquarie on his trip to the Cowpastures in1815. He became a settler and constable in the Parramatta district. In April 1819 he was shot by bushrangers (see Sydney GazetteApril 10th 1819).

COX, George (c.1795-1868)
Son of William Cox.

COX, Henry (1796-1876)
Son of William Cox.

COX, Rebecca [nee Upjohn] (?? - 1819)
Wife of William Cox.

COX, William (1764 -1837)
Regimental paymaster, roadmaker and builder.
Arrived in Sydney on 11 January 1800 with his wife, Rebecca and their six small sons.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.258 -259].

COWPER, William (1778 -1858)
Clergyman.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.254 -256]

D

DAVIDSON, Walter Stevenson (1785 -1869)
Landowner, merchant and banker.
Londoner. Arrived in Sydney on board the Argo in June 1805. He was a friend of John Macarthur and his family had been influential in bringing Macarthur to the British Government's attention. In 1807 he was involved in a speculative trading venture with John Macarthur, Robert Campbell and Garnham Blaxcell assembling a cargo, and sailed to China and India on their behalf. After his return in 1808 he was briefly involved in the turbulent politics of the colony following the overthrow of Governor Bligh, but then sailed to England in March 1809 and never returned. He did, however, retain an interest in colonial affairs and did not sell his Manangle property at Camden until 1851.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 p.290].

DENNISON
Acted as a guide to Macquarie during his inspection of the Cowpastures in 1815. (see also Neale and Warby)

DEVLIN, Arthur
Political exile.
Arrived on Tellicherry.

DRUITT, Major George (c.1775 - 1842)
Officer in 48th Regiment.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.324 -325].

DWYER, Michael
Political exile.
Arrivedon the Tellicherry.Dwyer was a leader of the Irish rebellion in Wicklow after the main 1798 rising was suppressed. He held out until December 1803 when he and other rebels surrendered. His wife and two of his four children accompanied him to N.S.W. The railway to Warwick Farm Racecourse branches from the main southern line on Michael Dwyer's grant.

E

EVANS, George William (1780 - 1852)
Surveyor.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.359 -360].

F

FISH, James
Master of the Snapper cutter.

FITZGERALD, Richard (1772 - 1840)
Emancipist, trusted agent, and close friend to the Macquaries.
Arrived by the William & Ann in 1791. He became superintendent of government farms at Parramatta and Toongabbie in 1798, and Principal Superintendent 1802. In September 1819 he was appointed by Macquarie as superintendent of agriculture at Emu Plains. He enjoyed the confidence and the support of the Macquaries and after their departure he continued to look after their interests in the colony. In 1827 Elizabeth Macquarie appointed him as her agent; and he looked after bank deposit s in the Bank of NSW, managed her land and stock holdings, sent her £869 (between 1829 -1835) in dividends from her colonial assets, and helped her in obtaining an additional grant of 2000 acres. He also amassed considerable landed property for himself, and died at Windsor on May 25th 1840.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.383 -384].

FORREST, Captain Austin.
Capt. Austin Forrest married Jemima Pitt on 18 April 1810. He was killed by a fall from his horse on 24 December 1811. Mrs. Forrest subsequently married Robert Jenkins, who was also killed by a fall from his horse on 4 May 1822.

FRASER, Charles (also FRAZER, FRAZIER)(c.1788 - 1831)
Gardener and colonial botanist.
Arrived in Sydney on 8 April 1816 on board the convict transport Guildford.
[see: Australian Dictionary of Biography 1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.416-417].

FULTON, Rev. Henry (1761 -1840)
Political exile and clergyman.
Arrived on the Minerva. Pardoned in 1800. Went to London to testify in the court-martial of Lieut.-Col. Johnston, and returned to NSW in 1812. He remained in Sydney until 18 June 1814 when he was made resident chaplain in charge of the Castlereagh and Richmond region.
[See: Australian Dictionary of Biography1788-1850 Vol.1 pp.421-422].