Sir Thomas Brisbane | |
|---|---|
 Painting of Thomas Brisbane by F. Schenck (1850) | |
| 6th Governor of New South Wales | |
| In office 1 December 1821 – 1 December 1825 | |
| Monarch | George IV |
| Preceded by | Lachlan Macquarie |
| Succeeded by | Ralph Darling |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1773-07-23)23 July 1773 |
| Died | 27 January 1860(1860-01-27) (aged 86) Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | Major-General |
| Battles/wars | War of the First Coalition Second Carib War Peninsular War War of 1812 Bathurst War |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order Army Gold Cross |
Major-GeneralSir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was aBritish Army officer, colonial administrator and astronomer. He served in many important wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including front-line action during thePeninsular War. Upon the recommendation of theDuke of Wellington, with whom Brisbane had served, he was appointed asGovernor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
In the colony, he implemented expansionist land policies that benefited wealthy colonists, while also augmenting the system of convict punishment. A keen astronomer, he built the colony's second observatory and encouraged scientific and agricultural training. Brisbane also declaredmartial law against the IndigenousWiradjuri people to quash their resistance to colonisation. The convict settlement ofBrisbane established during his tenure was named in his honour and is now thethird largest city in Australia.
Brisbane was born in 1773 at Brisbane House in Noddsdale, nearLargs inAyrshire,Scotland, the son of Sir Thomas Brisbane and his wife Eleanora (née Bruce). He was born into an aristocratic military family and as a child was home educated by prestigious tutors. As a teenager, he was educated at theUniversity of Edinburgh, and later boarded at an English academy inKensington, London, where he learntmathematics andastronomy.[1]
In 1789, Brisbane joined the38th Regiment of theBritish Army as a junior officer and was posted toIreland.[1]
On the outbreak ofwar with France, he transferred to the53rd Regiment and fought inHolland under the command of theDuke of York. He participated in theSiege of Valenciennes in June 1793 and theSiege of Dunkirk in August 1793. He also took part in the Siege ofNieuwpoort in October 1793, theSiege of Landrecies in April 1794, theBattle of Tournay in May 1794 and finally theSiege of Nijmegen before the British army in the Low Countries was evacuated and returned to England in spring 1795.[1]
In November 1795, the 53rd Regiment were embarked for theWest Indies, where it fought against French forces for control of the region. Brisbane took part in the capture ofSaint Lucia from the French in May 1796, participating in the capture and sacking of the colonial capital ofMorne Fortune.[1]
Later in 1796, he participated in the suppression of anuprising byKalinago andGarifuna people underJoseph Chatoyer inSaint Vincent. During the uprising, Brisbane personally killed Kalinago chief Taquin and participated in the deportation of 5,000 Garifuna to the small island ofBaliceaux in theGrenadines.[1][2]
He later partook in expeditions toTrinidad andPuerto Rico in February 1797 and April 1797 respectively. Brisbane then transferred to the69th Regiment which returned to England in 1802 after being stationed inJamaica.[1]
After a brief period of being retired on half-pay, Brisbane was appointed as an army assistant in the Adjutant-General's office, serving under theDuke of Wellington. In 1813 he was promoted tomajor general in the74th Regiment and saw much action during thePeninsular War, including leading a brigade in the3rd Division that broke through at theBattle of Vitoria.[1]
For his services in the Peninsula War, Brisbane received theArmy Gold Cross with one clasp for the battles ofVitoria,the Pyrenees,Nivelle,Orthez, andToulouse; and thesilver war medal with one clasp for theNive.[1]
With the forces ofNapoleon all but defeated, Brisbane was appointed as abrigade commander to lead troops in the concurrentBritish war with the United States. In 1814 he led his brigade at theBattle of Plattsburgh, which Brisbane claimed they could have won if they had been allowed to launch a full infantry attack.[3] During the battle, he used theCharles C. Platt Homestead as his headquarters.[4]
With the United States defeating the British at Plattsburgh and the Napoleonic forces finally being vanquished at theBattle of Waterloo, Brisbane was returned to Europe and given command of twelve regiments to occupy Paris in accordance with theTreaty of Paris. From 1815 to 1818, Brisbane remained in Paris before the occupation forces were recalled to England.[1]
In November 1819 he married Anna Maria Hay Makdougall of Makerstoun, Roxburghshire, Scotland. On his father-in-law's death, Brisbane assumed the additional surname, becoming Makdougall Brisbane.[1]
In 1821, on the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, Brisbane was appointed asGovernor of New South Wales, a post he held until 1825. Brisbane took over the government on 1 December 1821, and at once proceeded to carry out the reforms recommended in the report ofJohn Bigge. This report disparaged the socially progressive policies of the previous governor,Lachlan Macquarie, which the conservativeTory British government at the time regarded as wasteful, expensive, and too lenient on the convicts.[5]
Guided by the Bigge report and instructions from theHigh Tory British Secretary of State,Earl Bathurst, Brisbane re-established theNorfolk Island convict settlement and oversaw the formation of new penal colonies atPort Macquarie and also atSarah Island on the remote west coast ofVan Diemen's Land. These establishments were to serve as dreaded places of isolation and punishment for the convicts. In 1823, Brisbane also sent LieutenantJohn Oxley to find another new site for convicts who were repeat offenders. Oxley surveyed a large river flowing intoMoreton Bay and a year later, the first convicts arrived at theMoreton Bay Penal Settlement. Brisbane visited the settlement in December 1824 and Oxley suggested that the river be named theBrisbane River. The settlement was also renamed asBrisbane after him, which was later opened to free settlers in 1839.[5]
Brisbane also introduced a new land grant system which stipulated that for every acre granted the grantee would be assigned, free of expense to the crown, one convict labourer. Large land grants given to rich and well-connected colonists were favoured through this system, including a contract of a million acres to a consortium of entrepreneurs led byJohn Macarthur known as theAustralian Agricultural Company. This policy enabled the colonial government to drastically reduce the maintenance costs of convicts while providing rich colonists with accessible cheap labour.[5][6][7]
These decisions firmly halted the socially progressive policies ofLachlan Macquarie and reaffirmed strong class distinctions within the colonial society. The exclusive 'Pure Merino' class of colonists (named after the type of sheep they bred) were able obtain large areas of land and significant political influence. This class of colonist evolved to dominate much of colonial society for many years, becoming known as thesquattocracy.[5][6][7]
Although Brisbane introduced many of the recommendations of Bigge's report,[8] he did not limit his attention just to this. WhenDr. Robert Wardell andWilliam Wentworth brought out their paper theAustralian in 1824, Brisbane tried the experiment of allowing full latitude of thefreedom of the press.[5]
He also implemented the beginnings of representative government by the establishment in 1823 of the firstNew South Wales Legislative Council. Although there were only a handful of members in this council, all of which were appointed by Brisbane and had no real power except to advise the governor, it gradually evolved over decades into a modern elective representative body.[5]
In contrast to the previous governorship of Lachlan Macquarie, who was very cautious in the process of British expansion into the continent, Brisbane's rapid granting of large areas of land to venture capitalists and colonists resulted in a significant expansion of British land appropriation. This was particularly the case in the areas aroundBathurst and in theHunter Valley. Brisbane gave away around 100,000 acres of land in the Bathurst region, while 500,000 acres was granted in the Hunter Valley. An additional 1,000,000 acres was granted to theAustralian Agricultural Company in thePort Stephens area.[9][10]
The expansion of British influence into more remote areas was also achieved by the establishment of the new convict colonies at Port Macquarie, Sarah Island and Moreton Bay. Brisbane also set up a convict agricultural training facility on the colonial frontier atWellington, and a military outpost on the northern coast of Australia atFort Dundas.[5]
The rapid rate of land appropriation in the Bathurst region during Brisbane's time as governor caused the displacement of the residentWiradjuri people. Their resistance to colonisation led to conflict between the British settlers and these localIndigenous Australians. TheBathurst War, as it became known, resulted in the killing of dozens of Wiradjuri men, women and children, together with the deaths of around 13 stockmen.[10]
By August 1824, this conflict was causing major disruptions to British interests in the region and, with a view of ending the war by force, Brisbane declaredmartial law over the Bathurst area. Soldiers under MajorJames Thomas Morisset scoured the region for Wiradjuri, while groups of armed colonistsmassacred them with impunity. When Brisbane declared an end to the war in December 1824, the Wiradjuri had been defeated with their main leader,Windradyne,suing for peace.[10]
Despite receiving large tracts of land for free and a virtually unlimited supply of cheap convict labour, many of the colonial elite in New South Wales were displeased with Brisbane. These so-called "exclusives", led by people such asJohn Macarthur and the ultra-conservative clergymanSamuel Marsden, were critical that Brisbane's policies, such as a free press, did not go far enough toward establishing New South Wales as an aristocratically ledplantation economy. Brisbane also did not always receive loyal support from his administrative officers, and in particular fromFrederick Goulburn, the colonial secretary.[5]
Charges of various kinds against Brisbane were sent to England. The worst of these, that he had connived at sending female convicts toEmu Plains for immoral purposes, was investigated and found to be without foundation. Brisbane discovered that Goulburn, the colonial secretary, had been withholding documents from him and answering some without reference to the governor, and in 1824 reported his conduct toLord Bathurst. In reply, Lord Bathurst, who had also reproached Brisbane for his conduct in handling the war with the Wiradjuri, recalled both the governor and the colonial secretary in dispatches dated 29 December 1824.[10]
Brisbane was a keen astronomer throughout his career. He had anobservatory built at his ancestral home in 1808. From this observatory he was able to contribute to the advances in navigation which took place over the next hundred years. He took telescopes, books and two astronomical assistants,Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker andJames Dunlop to New South Wales with him. On arrival he had the first properly-equipped Australian observatory built atParramatta while waiting for his predecessor, Governor Macquarie to complete his final arrangements.[1]
The Parramatta observatory recorded stars of the southern hemisphere, the first detailed observations from the continent. Its major contribution wasRümker's rediscovery ofEncke's comet in 1822. Brisbane left his equipment and books in the colony when he returned to Scotland. Remnants of this collection survive in theSydney Observatory.[1]
Brisbane's keen interest in science led him to accept the invitation to become the first President of thePhilosophical Society of Australasia that later became theRoyal Society of New South Wales. He was the first patron of theNew South Wales Agricultural Society. He arranged experiments in growing tobacco, cotton, coffee andNew Zealand flax in the colony.[1]
Brisbane left Sydney in December 1825 and returned to Scotland. In 1826 he was made colonel of the34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot. He added the name ofMakdougall beforeBrisbane, and settled down to the life of a country gentleman and took interest in science, his estate, and his regiment. He was elected president of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh (1832) following the death ofSir Walter Scott, and in 1836 he was created abaronet.[11] In the same year he was offered the command of the troops stationed in Canada and two years later the chief command inIndia, but declined both but continued his astronomical researches.[1]
He was the first patron of science in Australia, and as such was eulogised by SirJohn Herschel when he presented Brisbane with the gold medal of theRoyal Astronomical Society in 1828.Oxford andCambridge universities gave him the honorary degree of DCL, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Societies of bothLondon andEdinburgh. He was createdKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1814 andKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1837. He publishedThe Brisbane Catalogue of 7,385 stars of theSouthern Hemisphere in 1835. The Observatory in Parramatta was used until 1855.[1]
When Brisbane returned to Scotland he continued his studies and built a further observatory on his wife's estate, Makerstoun, nearKelso in theBorders. While a member of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh and received itsKeith Medal in 1848. In 1833 he acted as president of theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science. He founded a gold medal for the encouragement of scientific research to be awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[1]
Brisbane died on 27 January 1860 inLargs, Scotland. His four children predeceased him.[1] He is buried in theBrisbane Aisle Vault, which is in the smallkirkyard next to the remains of Largs Old Kirk (known asSkelmorlie Aisle).
The following features are named after Thomas Brisbane:
Many other uses of Brisbane derive from the Australian city and hence are indirectly named after Thomas Brisbane.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Governor of New South Wales 1821–1825 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Baronet (of Brisbane, Ayrshire) 1836–1860 | Extinct |
| Preceded by |  Brisbane baronets of Brisbane, Ayrshire 23 February 1836 | Succeeded by |
| BeforeFederation |  | |
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| AfterFederation | ||