Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to give support to the Macquarie 2010 Bicentenary Commemorations, an exercise which was launched by Her Excellency Marie Bashir, Governor of New South Wales, on 31 January and is supported by a committee made up of representatives of many of the institutions of New South Wales that have an interest in the history of the state and a number of community members and chaired by John Aquilina MP. Its purpose, in turn, is to promote the commemoration of Macquarie through widespread awareness campaigns and the participation of the broader community and relevant organisations in various celebrations. I wish to give encouragement to that activity.

Lachlan Macquarie was one of the most important and influential governors in Australian history. Professor Bashir called him the founder of Australia. His vision for the colony had a profound effect on the development of New South Wales and therefore Australia. He set out to transform the colony, not simply to administer it. He saw the potential for the punitive penal colony to be developed into a productive and harmonious community of free settlers and reformed convicts. His ambition to establish public works and to develop infrastructure and social programs reflected that vision and his own moral outlook of equality and self-enrichment, which was indeed informed by the Scottish Enlightenment.

He returned stability to the colony after the rebellion against Governor Bligh. The colony tripled its population during his time. Governor Bligh granted two pardons over an 18-month period. Macquarie granted 366 absolute pardons, 1,365 conditional pardons and 2,319 tickets of leave. That enlightened approach to convicts was of course met by very fierce resistance from conservative minded first settlers and outright opposition from the establishment. It led in turn to the inquiry by the English judge John Thomas Bigge, which in the end was critical of Macquarie, especially his spending on public works and his leniency towards convicts. But the fact is that the actual legacy of Macquarie and the one that we remember is of a practical and enlightened administrator who demonstrated compassion for convicts and held a vision of New South Wales as a grand and flourishing society. His emancipist policy towards convicts could indeed be considered a contribution to the development of the Australian ethic of a fair go. Indeed, he was the first person to actively promote the use of the word ‘Australia’. He was the person who established the Australia Day public holiday and is someone whom we should indeed celebrate.