Name

Macquarie’s Mausoleum

Connection

Tomb of Major General Lachlan Macquarie (1762 – 1824), Governor of New South Wales (1810 – 1821).

Location

Isle of Mull, Inner Hebrides, Scotland

How to get there

Train London to Glasgow, train Glasgow to Oban, Bus and ferry Oban to Isle of Mull

Summary

Major General Lachlan Macquarie (31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. He was the fifth and last autocratic Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony. He is considered to have had a crucial influence on the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement.

Context

The nascent Australian colony was in a disorderly state when Macquarie took over its governorship in 1810. His main task was to restore orderly, lawful government and discipline. His relationship with Aboriginal people was a mixture of enforced education and acculturation together with numerous punitive actions resulting in massacres.

Story

Macquarie resigned from his governorship of the colony in 1821; having served longer than any other governor. He returned to Scotland and died in London in 1824 His reputation continued to grow after his death, especially among the free settlers and their descendants, who were the majority of the Australian population until the gold rushes. Today he is regarded by many as the most enlightened and progressive of the early governors who sought to establish Australia as a country, rather than as a prison camp.

Macquarie formally adopted the name Australia for the continent, the name earlier proposed by the first circumnavigator of Australia, Matthew Flinders. As well as the many geographical features named after him in his lifetime, he is commemorated by Macquarie University in Sydney.

Macquarie was buried on the Isle of Mull in a mausoleum near Salen with his wife, daughter and son. The grave is maintained by the National Trust of Australia and is inscribed "The Father of Australia".

Further information

Wikipedia -  here