BornElizabeth Henrietta Campbell, she was the youngest daughter of John Campbell of Airds,Scotland. A distant cousin of Macquarie's she first met him at the age of 26 when he was an army officer. They were married three years later in 1807. Shortly after, in 1809, he was appointed to the governorship of New South Wales and she followed him. She is said to have taken a particular interest in the welfare of womenconvicts andindigenous people as well as helping pioneerhay-making in the colony. Elizabeth's Library of books on architecture were used by her husband and architectFrancis Greenway in the planning of government buildings.[1]
At the end of her husband's term, she returned with him to Scotland in 1823, living at the Macquarie estate of Jarvisfield on theIsle of Mull. The Macquaries had two children, Jane, a girl who died in infancy, and Lachlan, a boy. Jane was born inPerth, Scotland, on 15 September 1808, but died aged 3 months.[3] The younger Lachlan was born in Sydney in 1814, married Isabella Campbell in 1836, and died without children in May 1845, aged 31.[4]
Following her husband's death in London in 1824, Macquarie lived with a £400 pension from the British government. From 1825 to 1828 she lived in Surrey and Middlesex, spending summers at Jarvisfield. In 1828-29 she lived in London at 58 Upper Charlotte Street in a house that was bequeathed to her by her friend Henrietta Meredith. In 1830 she moved toAberdeen, returning to Jarvisfield the next year when her husbandpurchased a commission in the Army. She died at Gruline House on 11 March 1835, and was posthumously granted 2,000 acres (810 ha) of land in New South Wales.[1][5]
In her own words, a collection of her journal writings and letters transcribed and annotated by Robin Walsh, was published in 2011.[6]
The original, no longer extant, Mrs Macquarie's Road, also known as Lady Macquarie's Road,[7] which ran from the original Government House (now theMuseum of Sydney) to Mrs Macquarie's Point
Macquarie Culvert - a culvert under the original Mrs Macquarie's Road
Campbelltown, New South Wales, a town founded in 1820, one of a series of settlements south-west of Sydney being established by Macquarie at that time
Appin, New South Wales, a town founded in 1811, which takes its name fromAppin, the Scottish West Highlands town where Elizabeth was born
Airds, New South Wales, a suburb in south-western Sydney, which takes its name from Elizabeth's Scottish family estate. This is to be distinguished from the District of Airds, a name given by Governor Macquarie, in use still in the name of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society.
Meredith Island off the coast of New South Wales, reportedly named after a friend of Macquarie[9]
A statue of Macquarie by Tom Bass, in Mawson Park in Campbelltown, New South Wales
^Macquarie, Elizabeth; Walsh, Robin (15 August 2015), Walsh, Robin (ed.),In her own words : the writings of Elizabeth Macquarie, Exisle Publishing (published 2011),ISBN978-1-921497-98-8
