Lachlan Macquarie: Chairs

Towards the end of his governorship in New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie commissioned two convict artisans, William Temple and John Webster, to make him two large ornamental chairs. These chairs appear to have been designed for matters of state rather than personal comfort. They are likely to be the two large armchairs referred to in the inventory of the contents of the drawing room of Government House, Sydney drawn up by Macquarie's aide-de-camp, Henry Colden Antill, in March 1821. They were taken back to Scotland by the Macquaries in 1822 and were passed down through the extended family of Lachlan Macquarie's younger brother, Charles (1771-1835).

These chairs eventually returned to Australia in the 1960s and are now separately owned by Macquarie University, Sydney, and the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

For a history and description of the Macquarie chairs, as well as a discussion of the convict artisans who made them, please select from the menu below: