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History of the 1805 Macquarie Writing Desk

The engraved brass nameplate indicates that Macquarie probably purchased his writing desk in early 1805, prior to his departure for India on 25 April on board the City of London East Indiaman. There is always the possibility that he arranged for its purchase and later shipment to India from London, but this seems unlikely. Similarly, he may have received it as a gift later in the year 1805 (perhaps from Elizabeth Campbell) after his promotion had been gazetted in the London papers; however, there is no direct evidence to substantiate this conjecture.

The 1805 writing desk would become a well-travelled part of Macquarie's personal effects. Not only would he have used it in Bombay and Gujerat throughout 1805-1806, but it would also have been an essential part of his luggage during his rigorous overland journey through Iraq, Iran, and Russia to Britain in 1807. His Indian-born manservant, George, at this stage in his late teenage years, would have also been intimately acquainted with this indispensable part of his master's belongings. He would have carried and protected it on numerous occasions, not least because of its valuable contents.

The writing desk possibly accompanied Macquarie on his extensive tours throughout New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land in the period 1810-1821, as well as during the return voyage to Britain in 1822. It certainly remained a keepsake within the Macquarie family, and would eventually be given by Isabella Macquarie (nee Campbell of Jura), wife/widow of Lachlan Macquarie Jnr., to the family of one of the estate workers on the Jarvisfield estate on the Isle of Mull in the latter half of the 19th Century.

This is not the only writing desk known to have belonged to Lachlan Macquarie. There is another example, with an inscribed brass nameplate: 'L. Macquarie' that is currently on long-term loan to the National Trust of Australia. Lacking the distinctive brass mounts and fittings of the 1805 desk it appears to have been owned by Lachlan Macquarie Jnr. (and perhaps earlier by his father) who sent it as a gift to the family of Serjeant Charles Whalan in NSW in the mid-1820s.

The Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales acquired the 1805 Macquarie campaign desk in 2002 with funds provided by the Macquarie Bank Foundation. It forms part of the collection held at the Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House.

In 1992, the Historic Houses Trust curated a major exhibition surveying the Macquarie period and published the companion book: The Age of Macquarie, edited by James Broadbent and Joy Hughes. Printed by Griffin Press Ltd, South Australia, ISBN: 0522 84460 X.

This publication is a guide book to Lachlan Macquarie's colony and provides a representative impression of the colony of NSW during a dynamic period of its early development. Copies of the book are available through the Museum of Sydney Shop, 37 Phillip Street, Sydney: www.hht.net.au/museums/mos

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