Elizabeth
Macarthur: a Life at the Edge of the World
Michelle Scott Tucker
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| Text Publishing (the cover shows the young Elizabeth and in the background Elizabeth Farm around 1826) |
Those
who are interested in early colonial Australian history will be familiar with
the name of John Macarthur, who is credited with establishing the wool industry
with stock descended from Spanish merino sheep. He is equally known for being a
leader in the infamous Rum Rebellion in which he deposed Captain William Bligh
(of “Bounty” fame) as the Governor. Macarthur also passed through the pockets
of millions of Australia when the first $2 bill came out with his image
imprinted on it.
Of
his wife, Elizabeth, less is known, although she has given her name to the NSW
Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute and a high school, and Elizabeth Farm is one of Australia’s oldest buildings open to the public.
For
years at a time, John Macarthur was absent from the family’s properties around Parramatta
and left Elizabeth to hold the reins. This book tells her side of the story.
Married
in 1788 (the year the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales) 22 year-old new
bride Elizabeth and her arrogant, but almost penniless, army officer husband
John followed three years later and began to build their own empire “at the
edge of the world”.
Although
she often longed to see her beloved Devon countryside again, Elizabeth would
never return to England and devoted the rest of her life dealing with the many
hazards and challenges of a tough and strange environment. Family issues
had to be negotiated alongside pragmatic business ones. In her husband's absence, she had to manage both
the household and business matters, attend to the employment of convicts. She
personally oversaw the processes of wool production, including washing, baling
and transport, as well as a breeding program to produce the best flocks.
With
her cautious diplomacy, Elizabeth negotiated the inevitable feuds and
jealousies common to all small insular societies. She endured booms and busts
and tragic personal losses. Yet through
it all she continued to love a husband who was notorious for his recalcitrance
and irascibility, and willingly deputised for him at a time when women of her genteel background were expected to be little more than decorations.
Elizabeth
bore nine children, and progressively lost several of them before she herself
died aged 83. One of her sons was sent
to England at the age of seven and died thirty years later without ever seeing
his mother again. A daughter suffered from what might have been polio and needed
constant care for many years. There would be no quiet retirement for Elizabeth,
however, as John Macarthur increasingly suffered from insanity, finally being
institutionalised. Through it all, Elizabeth persevered in her steady and competent way.
This biography is a fine and most fitting tribute to one remarkable woman.
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| Elizabeth Macarthur, c. 1845 |
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| Elizabeth Farm as it is today, sydney.com |
More here:
(Several photographs of Elizabeth Farm through the years)
