Elizabeth Macquarie: 1832

"Mrs. Macquarie succeeded, and spread abroad, everywhere, during her long residence, the marks of her taste and beneficence. The Government Domain exhibits proofs of her ability in Landscape Gardening. The domestication of the Blacks, was her favourite pursuit. The Botanic Garden was her frequent place of resort, and owes much of its efficiency to her patronage. Liberal to excess in the purchase and labour of procuring native and exotic plants, fruit trees, shrubs, &c.; she exhibited equal liberality in their dispersion and distribution. With the tenderness of a mother, and the warmth of a zealous friend, she was ever ready to assist the needy, the infirm, the industrious, the oppressed. Her name is never uttered without an accompanying term of endearment, and affectionate remembrance; in the same manner as Governor Macquarie's name is always associated with the epithet 'good' – and his Government is emphatically designated 'the days of good old Macquarie.' This lady still lives in the enjoyment of affluence, richly merited; and now witnesses her Australian-born Son, 'young Lachlan,' an excellent and talented officer in the Scots Greys, imbued with an ardent desire to revisit the land of his birth."

Source:
Extract from the Sydney Herald, 14 May 1832 p.2.

This text appears in the obituary notice describing the death of Elizabeth Bourke, wife of Sir Richard Bourke, Governor of New South Wales (1831-1837): 'Demise of Mrs. Bourke. The Lady of His Excellency the Governor.'

The assessment of Elizabeth Macquarie is included as part of a general description of the various vice-regal wives, and how they contributed to the history of the early colony.

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